Heavy Metal Romance
by LazyNinja
Summary: AU Strike point Zero is a world famous band. By fate, they meet an all-girl band. What will the future have in store for the musicians? SS NH ST NT KI Plz R
1. Chapter 1: Are You Ready

**[A/N] Whaddup peeps. LazyNinja is back with his very first longer fic. First chappie, Introducing the world famous band Strike Point Zero! Warning: lots and lots of Heavy Metal. Well, R&R and have fun!**

**Songs in order:  
****Sidewinder - Avenged Sevenfold  
****One Step Closer - Linkin Park  
****Like The Angel - Rise Against  
****Scream Aim Fire - Bullet For My Valentine  
****Wait And Bleed - Slipknot**

**I don't own any of the songs, nor do I own Naruto. There.**

In the dressing room sat a young man, about 16 years old with raven-black hair and onyx eyes. He strummed a few chords on his black Gibson SG, custom made for him. He overheard the crowd cheer. The opening band did pretty well, for an unknown one. Covers from legendary bands and a few original songs that sounded very good. They had a bright future, he thought. He looked and saw his band mates/friends do their own ritual before a concert. The brown-haired drummer fixed his (way too) long hair and twirled his sticks. The bassist fine-tuned his guitar and patted his dog. He then turned to their keyboardist, who muttered something and pretended to be asleep. Finally, the hyperactive, loud-mouthed blonde rhythm guitarist/vocalist jumped up and down, going over the setlist out loud. After what seemed like hours the announcer came up.

"I can't hear you folks! I asked: Are you ready for Strike Point Zero?"

The crowd went wild. The announcer smirked and turned to the band coming on stage.

"They're all yours, boys."

The lead guitarist smirked and turned to the crowd, his hand raised in the air forming the 'Metal horns' sign which the crowd mimicked.

"Are you ready to ROCK!?" the blone screamed into the mic as he raised his guitar and played the first notes to one of their first songs.

The crowd immediately started to jump and scream and what more. The blonde smiled.

"All righty then. Here we go. This one is called 'Sidewinder'."

**[A/N Bold is backup, italic is lead vocals. Both is, well both =).]**

_I slide through the wasteland that's my world  
My hunger takes your life,  
__preyed on to keep me alive, yeah_

_Mercy's all that you need, mercy's empty in me  
__  
Can't you feel the poison rising  
_**out of the morning and into the night  
**_You can feel my strength destroy you  
__**straight to the heart from the venomous bite  
**__  
That's right I shed my skin tonight  
__but my fangs are **hard to hide  
**And you know that you're going to die, yeah  
__  
Mercy's all that you need, mercy's empty in me_

_Can't you feel the poison rising  
_**out of the morning and into the night  
**_You can feel my strength destroy you  
__**straight to the heart from the venomous bite**_

_I can't regret, can't escape  
decisions made for me,  
_**no control  
**_Fire that burns but never dies,  
__wrapped around I'll bury my fangs inside_

_Making my way though the night  
You're still in my sight  
_**You're running away cuz ya know ya can't hide  
**_My instincts are cold blooded hate;_  
_to you I'm the bearer of fate  
Wrong place and now the wrong time,  
now terror is all that you'll find  
_

Can't you feel the poison rising  
**out of the morning and into the night  
**_You can feel my strength destroy you  
__**straight to the heart from the venomous bite**_

Can't you feel the poison rising  
straight to the heart of the venomous bite...

_I can't regret, can't escape  
__decisions made for me,  
_**no control  
**_Fire that burns but never dies,  
__wrapped around I'll bury my fangs inside_

_Stay inside tonight - _**you're out there all alone  
**_Vanish from my sight - _**venomous control**_  
You won't make it right- _**my appetite has grown**_  
Lost the final fight - _**no love will be shown  
**_  
Stay inside tonight - _**you're out there all alone  
**_Vanish from my sight - _**venomous control**_  
You won't make it right- _**my appetite has grown**_  
Lost the final fight - _**no love will be shown**

The blonde and the raven-haired kids strummed the last chord simultaneously and looked at each other, smirks creeping up their faces.

"I'm impressed, dobe. You actually played it right for once."

"Shut up, Sasuke-teme! I can actually play 'Curses' right." The blonde countered. The keyboardist sighed.

"Troublesome."

"Hate to admit it Naruto, but Shikamaru's right." The bassist said. The drummer stood up.

"Guys! Can we just save the bickering for _after_ the show? Seriously!"

Naruto turned to the crowd and said "Alright, sorry about that. Time to get a bit rougher. Here's 'One Step Closer'."

_I cannot take this anymore  
I'm saying everything I've said before  
All these words they make no sense  
I find bliss in ignorance  
Less I hear the less you'll say  
But you'll find that out anyway_

_Just like before... _

Everything you say to me  
**Takes me one step closer to the edge  
**_**And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**'Cause I'm one step closer to the edge  
**_**And I'm about to break  
**__  
I find the answers aren't so clear  
Wish I could find a way to disappear  
All these thoughts they make no sense  
I find bliss in ignorance  
Nothing seems to go away  
Over and over again…_

_Just like before..._

_Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__  
Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to...**_

_**Break!**_

_Shut up when i'm talking to you!  
Shut up  
Shut up  
Shut up  
Shut up when i'm talking to you!  
Shut up  
Shut up  
Shut up  
I'm about to break!_

_Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break**_

_Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break**_

_Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to...**_

_**Break!**_

The crowd went wild and the band immediately continued with the next song.

_They turn the lights down low,  
In shadows hiding from the world,  
Only coming out when it gets cold_

_The seas part when they hit the floor,  
The voices carry on and out the door  
And everything you touch turns into gold_

_Like the angel you are you laugh creating a lightness in my chest,  
Your eyes they penetrate me,  
_**Your answer's always maybe  
**_Thats when I got up and left_

_A beating heart and a microphone,  
A ticking clock in an empty home still tells  
__of these times so long ago,  
And even though I've come so far,  
I know I've got so far to go  
and any day now I'll explode_

_Like the angel you are you laugh creating a lightness in my chest,  
Your eyes they penetrate me,_  
**Your answer's always maybe**_  
Thats when I got up and left_

_Each and everyday it leads into tomorrow  
And tomorrow brings one less day without you  
But don't wait up just leave the light on  
'Cause all the roads that I might take will all one day lead back to you_

_Like the angel you are you laugh creating a lightness in my chest,  
Your eyes they penetrate me,_  
**Your kiss is too amazing**_  
That's when I got up and left_

Naruto smiled at the crowd. "You like that one, don't you? Sasuke wrote it. It's one of the few songs on his soft side, even though most people don't believe he even has a soft side." He turned to see a certain Uchiha glaring at him, and quickly continued.

"Um, anyways...Aw, just forget it. Hit it, Neji!" Said drummer banged the drums for their next song.

_Kill your enemies  
My brothers dead around me  
Wounds are hurting, death is creeping for me  
Smoke is lighting, hearts are pounding  
Chaos soon ignites  
The carnage made is one for all  
_**Will I meet my maker? **

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time  
_  
_The only way out is to _**die!**

_God has spoken through his conscience  
As I scream aim and fire  
The death toll grows higher_

_God has spoken through his conscience  
As I scream aim and fire  
The death toll grows higher_

_Fuck these battlefields  
The bullets stand around me  
Bodies falling, voices calling for me  
Limbs are flying, men are crying, such a hurtful sight  
The carnage made is one for all  
**See no prisoners!**_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

_The only way out is to** die!**_

_God has spoken through his conscience  
As I scream aim and fire  
The death toll grows higher_

_God has spoken through his conscience  
As I scream aim and fire  
The death toll grows higher_

SCREAM!!  
AIM!!  
FIRE!!!

_SCREAM!!  
__AIM!!  
__FIRE!!!_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

**Over the top, over the top**_  
Right now it's killing time_

_The only way out is to **die!**_

_God has spoken through his conscience  
As I scream aim and fire  
The death toll grows higher_

_God has spoken through his conscience  
As I scream aim and fire  
The death toll grows higher_

_SCREAM!!  
AIM!!  
**FIRE!!!**_

Sasuke smirked as he saw several people in the crowd pass out. He looked at Naruto, who looked back at him. They both nodded before Naruto once more showed his Screaming talents.

"Are you ready to TEAR THIS FUCKING PLACE DOWN!?!?"

Of course, the crowd screamed as hard as they could.

"Alright, this song is called Wait And Bleed."

_I've felt the air rise up in me  
kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed_

_I've felt the air rise up in me  
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed_

_Goodbye_

_I wipe it off the tile, the light is brighter this time  
Everything is 3-D blasphemy  
My eyes are red and gold, the hair is standing straight up  
This is not the way I pictured me  
I can't control my shakes  
How the hell did I get here?  
Something about this, so very wrong  
I have to laugh out loud,  
I wish I didn't like this  
Is it a dream or a memory?_

_I've felt the air rise up in me  
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed_

_Get outta my head 'cause I don't need this  
Why didn't I see this?  
I'm a victim - Manchurian Candidate  
I...have...sinned...by...just  
Making my mind up and taking your breath away!_

_I've felt the air rise up in me  
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed_

_I've felt the air rise up in me  
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed_

_Goodbye!_

_You haven't learned a thing  
I haven't changed a thing  
The flesh was in my bones  
The pain is always free_

_You haven't learned a thing  
I haven't changed a thing  
The flesh was in my bones  
The pain is always free_

_I've felt the air rise up in me  
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed_

_**I've felt the air rise up in me  
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves  
I wander out where you can't see  
Inside my shell I wait and bleed**_

_And it waits for you!_

* * *

Strike Point Zero took their applause with a raised hand, forming the 'Metal horns' sign.

"You guys are amazing! Rock On!" Naruto said before leaving the stage.

Their manager, Hatake Kakashi, walked over to them. "Nice work there, boys. However, Kiba, I think I heard a few slight distortions in your playing. Could be the equipment here though. Anyway, better check it. Same goes for you, Sasuke. The rest of you, amazing job."

Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Kiba checked their guitars for any mistakes and the rest of the band made their way to the dressing room, Uzumaki Naruto still muttering the lyrics of 'Wait And Bleed'.

"Man, do they love us or what?" The blonde vocalist said. "I mean, we totally blew them away. And we haven't even played our best songs."

Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Neji both nodded in agreement. They really _were _good. Their last album sold over 750.000 copies world wide on day one. Band merchandise sold like crazy and their fanbase grew every day. You couldn't go anywhere and not see a kid wearing a SPZ shirt or look on a random person's iPod and not find a song of theirs. All of this wouldn't have happened if Sasuke's father hadn't given them the money to record their first album. It helped too that his company was the main sponsor of the band, and thus did all the promotion. They owed him. Big time.

As a matter of coincidence the dark-haired Uchiha burst through the door at the exact same time, pursued by a wide array of fangirls. Kiba barged in soon after.

"I guess that's one of the downsides of being world famous" Neji said chuckling.

"Troublesome fangirls" Shikamaru added.

"Yeah" Sasuke agreed, and then remembered why he was late in the first place. "But guys! Itachi sent me some tickets to Akatsuki's upcoming concert!"

Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, also played in a band. His band, Akatsuki, is even more famous than Strike Point Zero. Their latest album, 'Down By Dawn', sold over one million copies on the day of its release. Their style was a lot like SPZ's, and Akatsuki was also sponsored by Uchiha Enterprises. The president, Uchiha Fugaku and father of Sasuke and Itachi, had told them that he was seriously thinking of devoting a part of the business to music.

"When is it, teme?" Naruto asked.

"Next week. They planned a national tour and this is the first concert they're doing. Of course Itachi couldn't resist to send his little brother six VIP tickets." Sasuke said with a grin.

"Troublesome. I bet he wants us to be the opening act."

"Aww, c'mon Shikamaru! It can't be that bad, right? We're going." Kiba countered.

"Troublesome."

Kakashi came in. "Guys, I need you in 5 minutes. There's some reporters waiting for you."


	2. Chapter 2: Rock You Like a Hurricane

**(A/N)  
****Songs in order:  
****Wings of A Butterfly - HIM  
****Pressure - Paramore  
****Fuel - Metallica**

**I don't own any of the songs, nor do I own Naruto (Sadly). **

* * *

The limo drove off and on the radio played their song 'Wings Of A Butterfly' for the seventh time that day. Sasuke and Neji sipped from their drinks, Shikamaru took a nap and Naruto and Kiba were playing cards. Kakashi was reading his perverted book again, like always. When the car pulled up in front of their huge mansion, they could already hear the fangirls scream.

"Troublesome..."

They jumped out of the car, their security agents protecting them from the hordes of people, and ran for the door. They locked it behind them and sighed in relief.

"Man, I don't know if I would survive being caught by such a group of fangirls" Neji remarked. The rest agreed.

"Whatever. I'm calling the Xbox!" Naruto yelled and made a run for the game console.

He turned it on and started Guitar Hero World Tour. He grabbed a guitar controller and the mic, selected 'Scream Aim Fire' by SPZ en started playing. Shikamaru went to the kitchen and said he would cook today since they had given their cook the day off. Sasuke and Neji were discussing about whether they should try a different style of music or not and Kiba joined Naruto on the Xbox. Kakashi had called the Inuzuka if he wanted to pass the message he wasn't going to get home today since he had some legal issues to deal with. Soon, the smell of fresh ramen filled the house.

* * *

The next day, Naruto was awakened by a tune he had never heard before. He blamed it on tiredness and shrugged it away, but the song soon ended and the announcer guy on the radio spoke again.

_"That was 'Pressure' by the up-and-coming band Delightful and man, do they rock or what? Their first album 'Careless' is in stores now and I'm sure we haven't heard all from them. 'Fuel' will be played later on, but first: 'Wings Of A Butterfly' by Strike Point Zero."_

Naruto frowned. 'They're good. Gotta keep an eye out for them.'

Naruto hit the showers, got dressed, walked down the stairs and patted Kiba's dog, Akamaru, on its head before grabbing some breakfast and dropping down on the couch in front of the TV. He watched the news and greeted Shikamaru and Neji when they came down. Shikamaru sat down next to Naruto.

"Hey dobe, have you heard about that band called Delightful?" he asked the blonde vocalist. Naruto looked up.

"Yea, they were on the radio just now. Kinda punk-ish, but pretty good. Their first album is in stores."

Shikamaru nodded. "Ah. I heard thet they're an all-girl band. They're doing rather good."

The two looked at each other. They both could tell what the other was thinking:

'Better watch them.'

Akamaru barked at the sound of the door closing and ran to meet Kakashi entering the living room. He looked exhausted, but happy. You could tell by the look of his uncovered eye. Naruto called him over.

"Kakashi! What do you know of an all-girl band called Delightful?"

Kakashi's eye widened. "How do you know about them?"

"What do you mean? You know 'em?" Neji asked as he walked over to the living room holding three bowls of ramen.

"Of course I do! Last night, Uchiha-sama called me to ask if I wanted to sign a band with potential to the brand new Sharingan Records Company. He sent me a sample and I too thought it sounded good, so I had a talk with their manager and she signed the contract."

"So dad finally decided to launch the plan of the recond company? I guess we're automatically signed, right?" Sasuke said while walking down the stairs, ans snatched one of Neji's bowls on his way to 'his' couch.

"Ah. Same goes for Akatsuki."

"What a surprise" Neji snorted, looking op from his glaring contest with Sasuke. Kakashi chuckled.

The program on the TV switched to a music video. Naruto was the first to recognize the riff and turned his attention from his food to the screen. The info box on the screen read:

_Pressure __by __Delightful  
__Careless  
__Sharingan Records  
__© 2008 Uchiha Enterprises_

The band members watched in awe at the girls on screen. You could say what you wanted about them, but not that they weren't at least pretty. the lead vocalist had pink hair (the boys were pretty sure it was dyed) and these stunning emerald green eyes, not to mention her amazing voice. Then came the lead guitarist, with her waist-length bleach-blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and bright blue eyes. The drummer had brown hair pulled into buns and looked kind of Chinese: both her hair and clothing had Chinese-like influences. The bass guitarist had sandy-blonde hair pulled into four short and messy ponytails. She looked older than the rest of the band. Last came the keyboardist: dark blue-ish waist-length hair and the same pearl-colored eyes as Neji's. Said boy's eyes widened in shock.

"Hinata!? What the Hell!?"

The guys looked up. "Who's Hinata?" Sasuke asked.

Neji shook his head. "Hinata's one of my many cousins, but she used to be shy as hell. Even her own father couldn't talk to her without her blushing. Stutters all the time too. She DEFINETELY wasn't someone to play in a rock band of all things!"

"She looks kinda...hot" Sasuke admitted.

"I swear if you try to hit on her I'll kill you personally and with my bare hands." Neji threatened. Sasuke gulped.

"Troublesome..." well it's obvious who said that.

The band watched the rest of the clip and then, after waking up a lazy-as-hell Kiba, left for the studio to get some rehearsal done.

* * *

"We totally ripped that club" A young female said to her friends/band mates. "Never thought our album would be a hit."

"Yeah. Though we got lucky that that Uchiha fella had seen our video. I don't think he would've noticed us otherwise."

The others agreed.

"I heard Strike Point Zero signed up too yesterday." Their manager said from the doorway of their room.

"Strike Point Zero? You mean _the _Strike Point Zero?" The pink-haired vocalist asked in awe.

"Sure as hell I do. But get this girls: even Akatsuki signed a contract."

The five girls' jaws dropped. They got signed into a record label with both SPZ _and _Akatsuki?

"Oh..."

"My..."

"GOD!!!!! OMFG WE'RE BECOMING ROCK STARS!!!"

The purple-haired woman pressed her hands to her ears and tried to outmatch the amount of noise the girls made with her own.

"EVERYBODY SHUT THE HELL UP!!!"

The girls fell silent.

"That's better. Now, as I was saying, I spoke to the big boss of Uchiha Enterprises and he gave me six VIP tickets to Akatsuki's national 'Dawn Tour' starting next week."

Delightful was on the verge of squealing again, and their manager smiled mysteriously while adding "We're going to meet them after the show."

Needless to say that the first five minutes after they heard that news the entire building was filled with noise, much to the annoyance of the five just arriving rockers.

Shikamaru sighed. "There we go again..."


	3. Chapter 3: This Moment

**(A/N)  
****Songs in order:  
****One - Metallica (Most awesome song EVER!!! Gotta hear it!)  
****Breaking Me Down - SOiL  
****Numb - Linkin Park  
****Flight Of Icarus - Iron Maiden**

**Don't own any of the songs or Naruto.**

* * *

_Recap: _

_Needless to say that the first five minutes after they heard that news the entire building was filled with noise, much to the annoyance of the five just arriving rockers._

_Shikamaru sighed. "There we go again..."_

* * *

"How is this possible?" Neji said, clearly annoyed. "Even when you just try to get the hell away from the annoying fangirls for like just an hour or so, they're always around by some magical chance." Kiba sighed too.

"Well, let's get this over with. I actually DO want to get to play today. Remember last time?"

"Don't EVER," Sasuke said, a creeped out look on his face, "EVER" Sasuke started shuddering, "bring that day back up again, Inuzuka. I still have a phobia for long nails thanks to that day."

"Yeah... No shit..."

Naruto, being the overenthousiastic blonde he usually is, jumped up and down while (totally off-topic) shouting "Guys, guys! Let's get something to drink first. I'm like dehydrated!"

The band more or less agreed and off they went, making their way to the bar.

* * *

The girls walked into the bar, loudly chattering about all kinds of girl stuff and oblivious to the fact that five of today's biggest rock stars were sitting in the corner. Shikamaru noticed them and warned his friends.

"Incoming fangirls, three o'clock. Get ready to run for your lives if necessary."

But the squealing never came. The girls ordered their drinks and sat down on the bar seats. The guys relaxed somewhat, but kept their senses on fangirl alert nonetheless. The pink-haired band leader leaned forward and asked the barkeeeer what has been bothering her since she came in.

"Sir, who are those boys in the corner? They seem familliar somehow."

Surprisingly, the barkeeper laughed. "Well of course they do! Everybody knows them! Those guys are the band members of Strike Point Zero!"

"I se-- Wait, WHAT!?"

She jerked her head back to the five boys banging their heads on the table or groaning in annoyance.

"THEY are SPZ?" The blonde guitarist of Delightful joined in. "Oh my god!!"

"We're doomed." Kiba muttered.

In a split of a second the five girls stood at the side of SPZ's table. Naruto sighed.

"Might as well spill the beans then. Yes, we're SPZ. I'm the vocalist/rhythm guitarist, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Troublesome... Nara Shikamaru. Keys."

"Hn. Uchiha Sasuke, Lead guitar."

"Sup. Bassist Inuzuka Kiba."

"Hyuuga Neji. Drums."

"Did you just say Hyuuga?" the sandy blonde asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that's the same surname as our friend Hinata here."

Said girl blushed while Neji's eyes widened.

"You're those girls from Delightful!"

Now it was the girls' turn to be shocked.

"You _know _us?"

Naruto answered in Neji's place. "Yea...Well, I heard your tune on the radio this morning, and we saw the video clip on TV. Our manager told us you were signed on our label."

"We still couldn't believe that last part too much ourselves" Delightful's vocalist replied. "I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way."

"Yamanaka Ino, the most awesome guitarist ever" the guitarist said with a smirk.

"Um...H-Hyuuga H-H-Hinata..."

"Tenten. Just Tenten" came the drummer's answer, a smirk seemingly ever-present on her face.

"And I'm Sabaku no Temari. Pleased to meet you" was the bass player's short introduction.

Sasuke stood up. "Let's go guys. Rehearsal time."

"They weren't that bad" Kiba said to Shikamaru as they walked away.

"Hn. I'm just glad they didn't start the troublesome squealing. It's giving me a headache."

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto strummed the outro chords of Metallica's 'One' simultaneously, the opening of Akatsuki's 'Breaking Me Down' following. Little did they know a certain five girls were secretly watching them.

"I wished they'd play one of their own songs, because they're just doing covers now" Sakura whispered. Ino agreed.

"Yeah. I've been dying to see SPZ performing and when I finally get the chance they do nothing but others' songs."

"Quiet you two. I heard they always throw in a cover or two each performance." Temari put an end to this useless noise.

Naruto turned to his band mates, and the girls couldn't make out what he was talking about. Neji discussed a bit with Naruto and Sasuke joined in later. This went on for a while until Kiba had enough of it.

"Let the guy just play it! Sasuke, you just think it sucks because Naruto wrote it!"

Sasuke countered with "Well it usually does! Take that crappy song he wrote last week for example!"

"Dude! That wasn't serious! It. Was. A. Joke! Then again, I don't think you even know what a joke is!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hn. Fine. Play the freaking song, the sooner the merrier" Sasuke gave in and he dumped his guitar in the standard irritated. Naruto tuned his guitar a bit and prepared for the song he'd been working on. The girls watched in awe.

"We...We're about to hear an all-new song by the hottest band on earth, aren't we?" Sakura asked dumbfounded.

"Yes, which is the main reason why you shouldn't be here" a voice said from behind them. The girls jumped.

"What the hell? Who are you, sneaking up to five underage girls like that! You sick freak!"

"Easy. I'm Hatake Kakashi, Strike Point Zero's manager. I'm the one who got the contract to Sharingan Records to Anko-san."

"..."

Naruto barged into the hall. "Kakashi! What's goin'on? I heard some girls scream and--"

"It's nothing, Naruto" Kakashi replied. "Just caught some eavesdroppers red-handed. Shall I... Dispose of them?" he asked with an evil smile, though you couldn't really tell due to this face mask he seemed to be wearing all day. Naruto chuckled when he saw the look on the girls' faces.

"Nah, just let them in. I'm sure they'll want to jam with us. I can save the song for later." He looked to the others. "You okay with that, guys?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome...Let them in, they won't leave anyway." Naruto looked to Neji questioning.

"Sure" the drummer replied. "I wanna see what my cousin is made of."

"Awesome. Kiba?"

"Dude! It's three to two, so even if I say they can't stay, it won't make a difference."

"Not that we ever listen to you" Neji snorted. Kiba shot him a glare.

"Teme?" Naruto continued, not paying attention to the two bickering guys behind him.

"Hn."

"That's Sasuke for you" Kiba said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, I'll take that as a yes" Naruto said. "Go grab your instruments and be back here ASAP." The girls walked away and Naruto turned to his friends.

"Time to play my song. I named it 'Numb'."

He picked up his guitar and started the song.

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be  
Feeling so faithless  
Lost under the surface  
I don't know what you're expecting of me  
Put under the pressure  
Of walking in your shoes  
caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow  
Every step that I take is another mistake to you  
caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow_

_I've  
Become so numb  
I can't feel you there  
Become so tired  
So much more aware  
I'm becoming this  
All I want to do  
Is be more like me  
And be less like you_

_Can't you see that you're smothering me  
Holding too tightly  
Afraid to lose control  
'Cause everything that you thought I would be  
Has fallen apart right in front of you  
caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow  
Every step that I take is another mistake to you  
caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow  
And every second I waste is more than i can take_

_I've  
Become so numb  
I can't feel you there  
Become so tired  
So much more aware  
I'm becoming this  
All I want to do  
Is be more like me  
And be less like you_

_And I know  
I may end up failing too  
But I know  
You were just like me  
With someone disappointed in you_

_I've  
Become so numb  
I can't feel you there  
Become so tired  
So much more aware  
I'm becoming this  
All I want to do  
Is be more like me  
And be less like you_

_I've  
Become so numb  
I can't feel you there  
I'm tired of being what you want me to be  
I've  
Become so numb  
I can't feel you there  
I'm tired of being what you want me to be_

Naruto strummed the last chords and sang the last words before asking "Well, whaddya think?"

"Not bad, Naruto. considering it's coming from you it's actually pretty damn good" Kiba complimented and Neji agreed. Sasuke shrugged.

"It's alright I guess" was all he said. Naruto glared at him. He sighed.

"Alright, it's good, okay? I was wrong."

"That's what I wanted to hear" Naruto said with a smile. Sasuke was about to counter when the girls came in.

"Sorry guys. It took us a while to get Tenten's drum kit here, but we're all set now."

"Great. Let's get this party started" Naruto said while picking up his guitar again and strumming the chords to Iron Maiden's 'Flight Of Icarus'.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4: You Got Another Thing Comin'

**(A/N) Don't own anything. No songs this chappie =( How? Why? **

* * *

"Man, I'm not giving compliments often, but...Hell, that chick could sing."

"Is this some kind of dream or did I really hear Hyuuga Neji give someone a compliment?" Kiba teased. Neji rolled his eyes.

"I told you. Learn to use those ears of yours, dog boy. By the way, you know I'm right."

"Dude, No shit. They're gonna make it. Big time."

"Hn."

Kakashi came in. "Good work guys. I'm sure they had a good time back there. Some more free publicity won't kill us." He smirkedat Sasuke's annoyed glare before turning to Naruto. "Nice song back there by the way, kid. Quite unexpected. Usually Neji and Sasuke write the best songs."

"Yeah, well, I think it'll sound even better if it's played with a full band." Naruto said smiling. Neji assured him once more that they would work on it tomorrow before returning to his drink. God bless henchmen. They were carefully desconstructing his drum kit and packing it. He smirked as he saw Sasuke packing his guitar, careful not to damage is further. His annoyed tossing with his precious instrument had damaged it quite a bit.

"Gotta have Yamato take a look at this" the talented guitarist sighed.

"Just hurry up" Kakashi said. "Those girls are waiting for you."

The guys looked to each other. They could see in each other's eyes they were thinking the same thing:

'Why the hell did they wait for us?'

* * *

"Why did you wait for us?" Kiba asked. "It's not like you're invited to hang with us all day."

"We invited ourselves" Sakura answered smiling. Sasuke groaned, much to the pink-haired girl's annoyance. When he was out of earshot, she asked "What's his problem?"

"He's not quite the happy-go-lucky guy" Neji answered. "He doesn't particularly like anyone but us, his family and Kakashi. We're pretty much the only ones he considers his real friends."

"How come?"

"Dunno. He never really talks about it. I guess it's just the way he is. We kinda got used to it. Plus that he writes the most awesome lyrics. I think about three quarters of all our songs came outta that mind of his."

"Really? He always looks...I don't know...normal onstage."

"He does, because music is about what he lives for. He's not always like this, though. He can be normal when he's around us."

"Normal how?"

"You know. Hanging out, having fun, fooling off. Normal stuff."

"That's exactlly what we were planning to do just now" Sakura said with a grin. "Hanging out and having fun. Maybe get something to eat."

"You guys having fun talking about me back there?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"C'mon Sasuke. Let's just chill tonight. We've earned it." Neji said to the raven-haired guitarist.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Ugh. Fine. If it makes you happy..."

* * *

They arrived at the restaurant the girls were planning to take them and waited for the waiter to get them to their seats. Naruto was amazed.

"When did you make a reservation here?"

"When the rest was having trouble dragging Tenten's drums to the room you were" Ino answered. "We'd talked about it earlier and I thought it would be a good idea. You know, getting to know each other a little better."

"Hooray" Sasuke said sarcastically. Naruto elbowed him.

"You could at least pretend to have a good time" he hissed to his raven-haired friend.

"Even I can't act that well."

"Pft. Teme."

They had their seats and ordered their drinks. Neji and Shikamaru were discussing some random topic with Temari and Tenten, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Naruto and Kiba were chatting and Sasuke was sulking, ocassionally throwing in a sarcastic comment in both conversations. It was until Sakura noticed a sign above the bar, reading:

_**Tonight  
**__at  
__Jiraiya's   
__**Karaoke  
**__from  
__6 PM  
__to  
__10 PM_

"Awesome! Let's do Karaoke!" the pink-haired girl said upon learning that the time was almost 6. "Who's with me?"

As nobody raised his/her hand, Sakura decided to randomly pick a 'volunteer'. She closed her eyes, turned around and pointed to someone without looking. The 'lucky' person turned out to be...

"Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

**Cliffhanger!! How is he going to react to this? Find out next time!!**


	5. Chapter 5: Miracle

**(A/N)  
****Songs in order:  
****What Have You Done - Within Temptation  
****Never Enough - Epica**

**I don't own anything except my own imagination.**

* * *

**Recap:**

_"Awesome! Let's do Karaoke!" the pink-haired girl said. "Who's with me?"_

_As nobody raised his/her hand, Sakura decided to randomly pick a 'volunteer'. She closed her eyes, turned around and pointed to someone without looking. The 'lucky' person turned out to be..._

_"Uchiha Sasuke."_

* * *

Sasuke grunted. "Yeah right. If you realy trhink I'm gonna do some lame Karaoke act then guess again, Pinkie."

Sakura jerked around, grabbed his collar and looked him in the eye angrily.

"Look, mister I'm-so-good-you-can't-touch-me Uchiha: You are going to drag your lazy ass over to that installation and sing with me, or you can let me drag you to there, but I assure you that you won't like the second option."

"Hn. Fine."

Sakura's face transformed from angry to happily smiling so fast that several SPZ members blinked with their eyes a few times. When the two left, Naruto asked Ino "Is she always like this?"

"No" Ino replied laughing. "She just doesn't like being called 'Pinkie'. Only her friends can call her that. If you do nonetheless, you'll suffer the consecquences like your Uchiha friend over there."

Meanwhile, Sakura had grabbed two mics and selected a song she liked. She picked Akatsuki's 'What Have You Done', reckoning Sasuke must know it too since his brother sung the original. She turned to the boy and informed him of her choice.

" Alright Uchiha. We're gonna do 'What Have You Done' by Akatsuki, I hope you got it 'cuz the screens aren't working properly."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course I got it. Itachi sings it."

"Good, 'cuz we're starting."

**(A/N) Again, Bold is Sasuke, Italic is Sakura, both is, well, both =P.**

**What have you done now****I know I'd better stop trying  
You know that there's no denying  
I won't show mercy**_**on you now**__** know I should stop believing  
I know that there's no retrieving  
It's over now**__  
What have you done_

**What have you done now  
**_  
__**I, I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you**_

**What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now  
What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now**

_**Would you mind if I killed you  
Would you mind if I tried to  
Cause you have turned into my worst enemy  
You carry hate that I feel  
It's over now  
What have you done**_**What have you done now**_**  
**__  
__**I, I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you  
**__  
_**What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now**

**What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now**

_**I will not fall  
Won't let it go  
We will be free  
When it ends**_**  
**

**_I, I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you_**

**_I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you_**

The two singers looked at each other, smirks creeping up their faces.

"Hn. I'm impressed. You really _do _sing good, Pinkie."

"You too, Uchiha. Looks like you can do more than just playing your guitar and acting tough."

"Hn. At least I can actually _play_ a guitar. Unlike you, that is" Sasuke countered, his voice amused.

"Uchiha Sasuke, is that a challenge?"

Sasuke returned the smirk the pink-haired female was giving him. "You bet."

The rest of the guys, still in their seats, jaw-dropped at the show the two had put up. They barely knew each other and already sounded like they've been singing together since childhood. Although the pink-haired vocalist and the raven-haired guitarist were constantly fighting, Naruto and Ino saw right through their best friends' actions: They might not act like it, and they will certainly deny it, but they liked singing together.

Back with Sasuke and Sakura again, Sasuke had selected another song, this time Akatsuki's 'Never Enough'. Sakura didn't like it as much as 'What Have You done' but she was okay with it. She was actually kind of eager to see if he could grunt like Hidan, Akatsuki's lead vocalist. She was certain Naruto could, but Sasuke wasn't a lead singer.

"Do you think you can handle grunts like Hidan's?" She asked him.

"Pft. Of course I can. Hidan is the one who _taught _me how to grunt" Sasuke replied cockily.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Though I'm not as good as him, or even Naruto, I can handle a few grunts."

"Did I really hear Uchiha Sasuke admit someone was better than him?"

"No, you heard Uchiha Sasuke state the facts. Now let's do this."

"Amaze me" Sakura said smirking.

* * *

When they walked back, Neji came walking next to Sakura. She smiled.

"Was that the real Sasuke?"

"Most certainly. You're good. It took us a week at least to get that kinda stuff outta the guy."

Sakura smiled again and said nothing more.

The others had had fun too. They discovered that the girls were more than your ordinary fangirls. They were fun, and had an unexpectedly good time. Especially Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't quite place what he thought about Sakura. She was not your ordinary girl, that's for sure. She actually managed to get him to do something he didn't want, and made him like it too. She was something else.

Shikamaru took out his iPhone and called their driver, Izumo, to pick them up. When he hung up, he turned around.

"You girls need a ride back? I reckon you don't wanna walk home, and we'd be terrible gentlemen if we just ditched you here."

"Dude, we're rock stars! We're not supposed to be gentlemen in the first place." Kiba said.

"That's just the image I try to erase" Shikamaru countered.

Neji broke up the fight by dragging Kiba along by his collar and continuing to the place they'd said to meet the driver. Sakura and her friends eagerly followed, wondering how big the car must be if eleven people could fit in it. Their question was soon to be answered, as Izumo pulled up SPZ's limo neatly in front of the owners. The girls couldn't help but squeal.

"Troublesome..."

"Are you _serious_? This is sooooo cool!" Ino screeched.

"We're getting driven home in a limo!" Tenten added.

"If you're done with worshipping our ride then I suggest we get going" Sasuke said, a cocky smirk faintly present on his face.

When all were inside and Izumo took off, Shikamaru showed the girls around in the huge car. He showed them the PS3, the flatscreens on the ceiling, the sun roof, the mini fridge, laptops with mobile internet connection, and many other stuff. The girls were already imagining their relatives' faces when this massive ride came dropping of their daughters/sisters. The boys just laid back and relaxed, chatting with each other or the girls. Before they dropped off the girls, they exchanged phone numbers and Shikamaru earned a hug from Ino and Temari.

When they dropped off Hinata, Neji went with her to say hi to his uncle. Hyuuga Hiashi was a lawyer, and a well-known one too. He had hoped for his daughters to follow his lead, but in vain: both Hinata and her little sister Hanabi were doing something completely different. Hinata became a rock star and Hanabi showed a real talent in painting. She'd told her big cousin that she painted the cover for Hinata's album, which quite amazed the Hyuuga drummer as the cover of Delightful's 'Careless' looked more or less professional and not something you'd expect from a 12-year old girl.

By the time Neji returned, Shikamaru had fallen asleep and the rest was close to entering dream world too. They complained about how long he'd been away, to which Neji just shrugged. He signaled Izumo te get going before dropping on a seat next to Naruto and watching TV.

* * *

**A/N **

**Wassup! As you may have noticed, the titles of the chapters have changed. I plan to name each chapter after a rock/metal song. The one who gets them all right will be allowed to get a preview of chapter 7(Since ch6 is pretty much done, and 7 is like 10%. Don't want to spoil too much =) This makes no sense does it xD)**

**PM me your answer, I don't want people cheating =) **

**So once more: The first one who matches all the correct artists with the chapter titles gets a preview. This means 5 titles by 5 artists. Good Luck!!**

**Rock on  
~LazyNinja**


	6. Chapter 6: The Human Instrument

**(A/N)  
****Songs:  
****Tears Don't Fall - Bullet For My Valentine  
****Dead Memories - Slipknot  
****Declaration - Trivium  
I-E-A-I-A-I-O - System Of A Down  
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (God bless Nirvana - Kurt Cobain R.I.P.!)****Again, Don't own. If I did, I'd be a friggin' millionaire, and I wouldn't be writing some random fanfic. **

* * *

Nothing much happened the next day. The band recorded a full-band version of Naruto's song and decided to put it as the opening track on their new album, because surprisingly, they all liked it even more than Naruto's guitar-only version. Naruto himself was psyched. But he wasn't the only one with ideas for new songs, because Sasuke had been working on a song too. He'd named it 'Tears Don't Fall' and he played a short riff of it, saying it was far from complete.

"But just to give you guys an idea. What do you think?"

"There's the old Sasuke-style. That was awesome."

"Gotta agree with Kiba, teme. But just let me do the screaming, okay? You suck" Naruto said laughing.

"Duh. You're not our vocalist for nothing you know" Sasuke replied rolling his eyes. "And by the way, That Haruno girl seemed quite impressed by my grunts."

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you?" Naruto exclaimed, in his signature loud-and-annoying way. "Grunts and screams are two completely different things! Everyone here can throw out a proper grunt. Hell, even Kakashi can grunt! But aside from me, Neji is the only one able to cram out a sound I would call a scream."

"Hn. Whatever. You do it then. I'll play the riff and you do the vocals."

"Gotcha."

Sasuke wrote down the lyrics, pointed out the parts that were supposed to be screamed and picked up his guitar. Naruto grabbed a mic and warmed up a bit.

"Ready?"

"More than ready."

Sasuke coundted down. "One, two, three, GO!"

**[A/N Again, Bold is Sasuke, Italic is Naruto. You know the drill by now.] **

**Would she hear me, if I called her name  
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame  
**_  
There's always something different going wrong  
The path I walk is in the wrong direction  
There's always someone fucking hanging on  
Can anybody help me make things better!!_

_**Your tears don't fall, they crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home  
Your tears don't fall and crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home  
**_

Neji and Shikamaru nodded in approval, and Kiba made another failing attempt to scream 'Better' along with Naruto.

"What was _that_?" Naruto joked. "Anyway, how did that sound?"

"Awesome" was Neji's reply.

"Nothing to add" Shikamaru said.

"Just gimme a day to finish the lyrics and we've got another song for our next album. Has anyone been thinking about a title?"

"I have been" came a voice from the doorstep. Kakashi walked in and sat down on Naruto's amp. "I was thinking about 'Dead Memories', because that song pictures what the whole album so far is about."

"True. It kinda fits."

"Well, just get a couple more songs done and we should be all set. I'm counting on you guys. And don't forget Akatsuki's concert in three days" Kakashi said and he picked up a spare guitar. "Now let's see if the old man didn't get too rusty."

Naruto chuckled. "I bet you can't keep up with the modern metal, old fart. You used to call Deep Purple and Dio metal, right?"

"I know, but I re-learned how to play guitar" Kakashi replied and he hit the first chords to Akatsuki's 'Declaration'. Naruto nodded in approval.

"Looks like you're not all talk after all, gramps" the blonde vocalist teased while picking up his guitar and falling in rhythm with Kakashi. Neji showed off a bit before falling in the original part and Kiba let this one pass as he didn't know how to play it.

They did another song before Kakashi's secretary, Shizune, came running in, shielding her ears from the noise with her hands. She tapped Kakashi on his shoulder and the band stopped playing. Kakashi gestured her to continue.

"First of all, could you please keep it down a bit? I'm close to getting a burnout from the neighbous calling in about the noise, and although I'm starting to get used to it I wouldn't mind a decrease in volume as well." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"The closest neighbours are about forty yards from here."

"And I'm still gettting calls to keep the noise down. Guess that says a thing or two about the volume."

"Or how about we close the windows the next time" Sasuke stated, realizing the special sound-muting windows were left open. Shikamaru face-palmed.

"Anyway," Shizune continued, "That wasn't the most important reason I've come here. Normally I'm not being an errand boy, but I think Uchiha-sama would hate waiting until you guys are done abusing those instruments."

Kakashi Immediately dropped the guitar in its stand and followed Shizune to her office. Naruto turned down the volume and continued playing Neji's input on the new album: I-E-A-I-A-I-O, which were the vowels from the word 'IDEALIZATION'. Naruto had had a hard time getting the lyrics down for that one, as it was quite fast, almost like rapping rather than singing. But it turned out good and Naruto was repeating it just in case the rest was planning to play it live sometime soon. It was

when he was about to start Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' when his phone rang. He flipped it open and saw a text message from Kakashi.

_Naruto, tell the others I'm getting a contract to a band that has caught Uchiha-sama's interest. I won't be back until late.  
__Rock On  
__Kakashi_

Naruto closed his phone and hit the chords to the song he was about to start. While playing, he passed the message to the rest of the band. The rest of the day, the guys didn't do much more than just hanging around in their studio jamming and fooling around, and the evening was very much alike. Why'd you expect anything different anyway? Being a rock star had its good sides, Naruto thought as he played Guitar Hero in a lame fashion while lying on the couch.

* * *

A week had passed since SPZ's last gig and the guys' limo pulled up in front of the VIP entrance to Akatsuki's first 'Dawn Tour' performance. The boys got out as soon as the limo stopped and practically ran across the red carpet straight to their seats. The VIP seats were right in front of the stage, and if one wanted to he could jump on it fairly easy. The guys were glad the security was tight here, so no fangirls could slip through. So even bigger was their surprise when they heard a girl's voice greeting them. A familiar girl's voice.

"Hey guys! I should've figured you'd be here. Itachi must've sent the tickets" Haruno Sakura said while dropping in her seat next to Naruto. She was followed by Tenten, Ino, Hinata and Temari, dropping in their respective seats.

"So we got our tickets via my brother. That doesn't explain why you're here" Sasuke said, not finding it necessary to take his eyes off the stage.

"Your father gave these tickets to us as a welcoming present to the company."

Sasuke chuckled. "Let me guess: meet & greet included." This time, he had taken the effort to rip his gaze away from the opening band and directed it at the pink-haired vocalist.

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"Oh, please. Maybe because I've known Itachi's band since they started or is that too obvious?"

Naruto punched his friend in the shoulder. "Try to act a little nicer, teme. After all, not everyone regularly hangs with the hottest band on earth."

"Hn."

"Quiet you two" Kakashi said. "They're starting."

* * *

**Finally, another concert is HERE!! Wooo! More music, more more more!!! (I'm weird, deal with it) Next up will be the introduction and line up of the hottest band on earth: **

**A  
K  
A  
T  
S  
U  
K  
I  
!!**

**Until next time!! **


	7. Chapter 7: Waking the Demon

**Songs in order:  
****Stricken - Disturbed  
****What Have You Done - Within Temptation  
****I Stand Alone - Godsmack  
****Eye Of The Storm - Bullet For My Valentine  
****One Step Closer - Linkin Park**

**Don't own (sadly).**

Kakashi was right, like he usually was. Akatsuki came on stage, earning a flood of cheers and applause from the crowd. Lead vocalist Hidan, wearing black jeans and black sneakers and no shirt so you could see his many tattoos, grabbed the mic and tested it by screaming 'Are You Ready!?' and maintaining it for twenty seconds, earning an even bigger wave of cheers.

Hidan's scream had given lead guitarist Uchiha Itachi, wearing a black tank top and black pants with a chain attached to its left side and a pair of black and white sneakers, bass guitarist Deidara, who had put on a black suit with a white skull-printed tie and dark grey sneakers, keyboardist Kakuzu in his black coat and black pants with white shoes and drummer Hoshigaki Kisame, wearing a dark blue t-shirt with a black vest and regular jeans, time to get ready. And so, Akatsuki started their most famous song: Stricken.

_You walk on like a woman in suffering  
Won't even bother now, to tell me why  
You come alone, letting all of us savor the moment  
Leaving me broken, another time  
You come on like a blood stained hurricane  
Leave me alone let me be this time  
You carry on like a holy man pushing redemption  
I don't want to mention, the reason I know_

_That I am stricken and can't let you go  
When the heart is cold, there's no hope in me  
Know that I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss, will I run_

_You don't know what your power has done to me  
I want to know if i'll heal inside  
I can't go on, with the holocaust about to happen  
Seeing you laughing, another time  
You'll never know why your face has haunted me  
My very soul has to bleed this time  
Another hole in the wall of my inner defenses  
Leaving me breathless, the reason i know_

_That I am stricken and can't let you go  
When the heart is cold, there's no hope in me  
Know that I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss will I run_

_Into the abyss will I run  
_

_You walk on like a woman in suffering  
Won't even bother now, to tell me why  
You come alone, letting all of us savor the moment  
Leaving me broken, another time  
You come on like a blood stained hurricane  
Leave me alone let me be this time  
You carry on like a holy man pushing redemption  
I don't want to mention, the reason I know_

_That I am stricken and can't let you go  
When the heart is cold, there's no hope in me  
Know that I am crippled by all that you've done  
Into the abyss will I run_

_Into the abyss will I run_

I can't let you go  
Yes, I am stricken and can't let you go

The guys had been singing along with Hidan the whole time, as well as the crowd. Speaking of which, the crowd suddenly started whistling and the stage revealed the reason. Akatsuki's second lead vocalist Konan had entered the stage and was showing off her body, that most guys would describe as perfect. She wore a long slick black satin dress and black pumps, dark make-up surrounding her tempting eyes. She had dyed her originally blue hair black too. She took the mic from her stand and greeted the crowd. Sasuke already knew which song was coming by now, so he had an amused look in his eyes and a small smirk on his face when his thoughts were confirmed by Hidan and Itachi switching places. Itachi smirked at his little brother and his friends and Konan winked to the boys before telling the crowd the obvious.

"This one is called 'What Have You Done, now hit it people!"

**What have you done now**

**I know I'd better stop trying  
You know that there's no denying  
I won't show mercy**_**on you now**__**  
I **__**know I should stop believing  
I know that there's no retrieving  
It's over now**__  
What have you done_

**What have you done now  
**_  
__**I, I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you**_

**What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now  
What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now**

_**Would you mind if I killed you  
Would you mind if I tried to  
Cause you have turned into my worst enemy  
You carry hate that I feel  
It's over now  
What have you done**_

**What have you done now**_**  
**__  
__**I, I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you**_

**What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now  
What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done  
****What have you done**_  
_**What have you done now**

_**I will not fall  
Won't let it go  
We will be free  
When it ends**_

**_I, I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you_**

**_I've been waiting for someone like you  
But now you are slipping away  
Why, Why does fate make us suffer  
There's a curse between us  
Between me and you_**

**  
**Everybody yelled and jumped and Itachi smirked. He was planning something, Sasuke could see it in his eyes. It was the fact he couldn't read what his brother was planning that bothered the younger Uchiha. During the next song, 'I Stand Alone', on which Itachi was back at the guitar, Sasuke tried to read his brother, but in vain; he was just too good at hiding what he was planning. Sasuke gave up on it and fell in sync with Hidan's lyrics for their song 'Eye Of The Storm'.

The next song came as a surprise to the boys as well as to the fans. Hidan grabbed the mic and a guitar and tested it.

"Alright people, we're gonna try something now. I'm not sure..." He sighed. "You know what? Forget it. This next song is called 'One Step Closer' by Strike Point Zero."

_I cannot take this anymore  
I'm saying everything I've said before  
All these words they make no sense  
I find bliss in ignorance  
Less I hear the less you'll say  
But you'll find that out anyway_

_Just like before..._

_Everything you say to me_  
**Takes me one step closer to t****he edge  
**_**And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**'Cause I'm one step closer to the edge  
**_**And I'm about to break  
**__  
I find the answers aren't so clear  
Wish I could find a way to disappear  
All these thoughts they make no sense  
I find bliss in ignorance  
Nothing seems to go away  
Over and over again…_

_Just like before..._

_Everything you say to me_  
**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_  
**And I'm about to break**  
__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_  
**And I'm about to break**  
__  
Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_  
**And I'm about to break**  
__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_  
**And I'm about to...**_

_**Break!**_

_Shut up when i'm talking to you!  
Shut up  
Shut up  
Shut up  
Shut up when i'm talking to you!  
Shut up  
Shut up  
Shut up  
I'm about to break!_

_Everything you say to me_  
**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_  
**And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break**_

_Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break**_

_Everything you say to me  
_**Takes me one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to break  
**__I need a little room to breathe  
_**Cause I'm one step closer to the edge**_**  
And I'm about to...**_

_**Break!**_

* * *

**WHOOHOO!!! GO AKATSUKI!! Itachi and Hidan are way too cool to be bad guys (Turned out Itachi wasn't after all =D) Next up: the reaction of SPZ ans another surprise!**

**Till then, my comrades!  
****~LazyNinja**


	8. Chapter 8: Aces High

**Songs in order:  
****Pressure - Paramore  
I-E-A-I-A-I-O - System Of A Down  
Trapped Under Ice - Metallica**

**Do I have to keep saying? -sigh- fine... I don't own anything besides the storyline.**

* * *

Strike Point Zero was dumbstruck. Akatsuki covered one of their songs. The hottest band on earth played one of their most famous songs!

"So this was what Itachi was planning" Sasuke muttered. He heard Naruto say something about Hidan doing a scream wrong and saw Kiba jump in excitement. Then, he saw a black coat in the corner of his eye and he turned around to see Akatsuki's manager, Pein, a smirk playing on his lips.

"I gotta admit that I prefer your version, boys."

"Pein!" Kakashi said surprised. "Was this your idea?"

"Not at all. One of the boys came to me with the idea to throw in a few covers. Look, they're starting another."

And indeed, Hidan grabbed the mic again. He nodded to Itachi and the Uchiha started his riff and instead of Hidan, Konan sang from backstage as she walked back on stage.

_Tell me where our time went  
And if it was time well spent  
Just dont let me fall asleep  
Feeling empty again_

_Cause I fear I might break  
And I fear I cant take it  
Some night I'll lie awake  
Feeling empty_

_I can feel the pressure  
its getting closer now  
We're better off without you  
I can feel the pressure  
its getting closer now  
We're better off without you_

_Now that I'm losing hope  
And theres nothing else to show  
For all of the days that were spent  
carrying away from hope_

_Some things I'll never know  
And I had to let them go  
I'm sitting all alone  
Feeling empty_

_I can feel the pressure  
its getting closer now  
We're better off without you  
I can feel the pressure  
its getting closer now  
We're better off without you_

_Without you_

_Somethings I'll never know  
And I had to let them go  
Somethings I'll never know  
And I had to let them go  
But I'm sitting all alone  
Feeling empty_

_I can feel the pressure  
its getting closer now  
We're better off without you_

_Feel the pressure  
its getting closer now  
You're better off without me_

Sakura fainted. Ino looked like she was going to too. Hinata jaw-dropped and Tenten and Temari were hyperactively jumping op and down and squealed like a siren. Hidan smirked and Konan brought the mic to her mouth again.

"This was 'Pressure' by Delightful, they're risin' to the top tight now and I'm sure they'll make it." She turned to the VIP seats and added "Keep up the good work, ladies." She winked (which made most of the guys present drool) and left the stage once more. Pein smirked.

* * *

After the show, SPZ (Minus Kakashi, he had left for the bar with Pein) and Delightful (minus Anko, she had left for the bar too) were lead backstage by a man that held a lot of resemblance with a troll, and met the relaxing Aktsuki band memebers there. Sasuke hit his brother in his shoulder which lead to a fistfight between the two, Neji and Kisame insulted each other like they always did, Kiba snatched Deidara's bass and pretended to try to sell it to a fan, Naruto and Hidan fell into their habit of talking in grunts and screams and Kakuzu and Shikamaru just sighed at the immatureness of their band mates.

"Troublesome, I tell ya. Can't they just act normal for once? Anyway, nice show oldie."

Kakuzu nodded. "Thanks. And I see what you mean. Even if they just see each other they just GOT to prank on each other. Although the dobe and Hidan aren't that bad. It just annoys me that a 16-year old brat can grunt better than me." Shikamaru chuckled. Kakuzu looked up and saw Delightful standing there. "Girls, this area is off-limits. Please leave."

Sakura shook her head and said "But we're allowed to be here! We've got VIP tickets!"

Konan walked up and saw The Uchiha brothers' brawl going on, Deidara chasing Kiba and Neji calling Kisame a walking pile of Sushi. She sighed and yelled "Enough!" but no-one reacted. She decided to take care of things and pulled Itachi away from his younger brother by his ear. She dropped him next to Kakuzu and Shikamaru before ordering Kiba to give Deidara's bass back. Kiba obeyed and gave Deidara back his guitar, his eyes gazing Konan a bit frightened. She then hit Kisame and Neji on the head and ordered them to quiet down. She turned around when she heard Hidan grunt "Enough" like on their song 'Never enough' and silenced the two vocalists with just a single glare. She then turned to the other girls and smiled sweetly.

"Sometimes they can be just like a bunch of 8-year olds. Anyway, hi! I'm Konan. You must be those girls from Delightful. Uchiha-sama told us you'd come."

The other Akatsuki members, realizing these girls were their guests, smiled sheepishly and introduced themselves.

"I'm Deidara, un! Pleased to meet you."

"Hn. Uchiha Itachi, Band leader and lead guitarist. Also probably the most good-looking guy on the planet right now." Itachi said with a smirk.

"Hidan, master grunter/screamer and way cooler than that gay ass over there." Hidan said, aiming at Itachi.

"Hidan, watch the language!" Konan said.

"Fine..."

"Idiot. I'm Kakuzu, keyboardist and oldest member of the band. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, and no, this ain't a mask. It's my real face, deal with it. As you probably know I drum for these kids."

* * *

Three weeks had passed, and SPZ was about to enter the stage of mixing the new album. They finally had their tracklist completed, and every member of the band, even Kiba who more or less hated writing songs, had at least written one song on the album. Shikamaru was talking to one of the technicians at the moment, and they conversated at a level only Shikamaru and the technician could follow it. Naruto was jamming some Metallica with Sasuke and Kiba and Neji enjoyed a cold drink. He wondered what time it would be and reached for his iPhone when it suddenly started to ring at the same moment. He gestured his friends to stop playing and picked up.

"Yea, Neji here."

"Neji! It's Sakura. Hey listen, how about we round up the gang and hang out?"

"Ummm, we're kind of busy right now, Pinkie. Recording albums is hard working, especially when the sound dude fucks things up in a way that our lazy nerd has to fix it."

"You're recording a new album? Isn't that a bit early?"

"It's almost been a year since the last one, and we probably won't release it in at least four months. So no, it's perfect timing."

"Ugh. What I'd give to just lock myself up inside a studio right now. I'm sick of touring. It's burning me up completely. I've been living on two cans of Red Bull and a pizza for three days now."

"That's showbizz, baby." Neji said chuckling. "But seriously, you should come over for dinner then sometime soon. Two cans of Red Bull and a single pizza in three days isn't my idea of a healthy diet."

"And why do your cooking abilities excel mine again?"

"They don't but we've got Teuchi."

"Teuchi?"

"Our cook. You didn't honeslty think we'd cook ourselves, did you? We're way too cool to do that. We only make breakfast, because Teuchi's pretty old and it'd be cruel to wake him at 6:30 AM just to make us some breakfast. Then again, we usually skip breakfast anyway."

Sakura giggled on the other side of the line. "You DO know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, don't you? It's where you get your energy from."

"You look me straight in the eye and admit that Naruto has a low energy level" Neji snorted. "Wait, Shikamaru's done. We're back on track. Well, gotta go. Just remember that the offer stands."

"I will. See ya!"

"Later."

"Incoming call from your girlfriend?" Sasuke teased. Neji snorted.

"Hn. I'll pass. Pink ain't my color."

"She does kinda look stupid with that hair, that much is true" Sasuke agreed. "But aside from that she's kinda pretty."

Neji, Shikamaru and Naruto stared at Sasuke and Kiba asked "Alright, who are you and what have you done to Uchiha sasuke? 'Cuz he'd never _ever _admit he likes someone that easy."

"Hn. I guess I hang with you idiots too much."

"Phew, that's a relief. Sasuke's back. You ain't got no fever, dude? No dizzyness?"

"Shut up and play, dog-breath. I've got other things to do."

"Like what?"

"Like designing my new guitar."

"Alright guys, enough bitching. Now play" Kakashi said from the recording booth. He somehow seemed to pop up at the most unexpected times, often startling people. The guys obeyed and recorded a second take for their song I-E-A-I-A-I-O, since Naruto screwed up last time. This was the only song they had to get right before they could mix the whole thing together. They had also put a surprise on the album, but nobody knew about that. Not even the producers, since Shikamaru would edit it himself and place it on the album as an extention of I-E-A-I-A-I-O. People would only hear it if they listened the whole album, and the guys wondered how long it'd take people to find out.

Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke strummed the last chords, Neji hit the last drums and Shikamaru fixed the last sounds. They were done. Sasuke dumped his guitar in a stand and took out his laptop. Shikamaru left for the editing room, and the rest made their way to the living room to play Guitar Hero once again. They'd play a full-band set, with Neji on drums, Kiba on bass and Naruto on guitar/vocals. How the blonde managed to play and sing at the same time was a big mystery, since the game very much differs from real guitar playing.

* * *

The volume was close to maximum, so no wonder they didn't hear the doorbell. Only when Neji's phone rang and revealed a text message from Kakashi asking him kindly to please OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR AND TURN DOWN THE FUCKING VOLUME ABOUT TWENTY TIMES the boys knew there was someone on their doorstep. But they didn't expect the girls too.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Neji asked surprised.

"Did you already forget your kind offer this morning? You said we could drop by whenever we wanted!" Sakura said smiling.

"Oh yeah, I recall I did mention that..."

"Well let's get going then! We're starved!" Ino yelled before pushing the girls and Kakashi through the doorway into the mansion.

Neji asked Kakashi if he wanted to show the girls around and ran back to the living room himself. Kiba and Naruto had continued without him, now playing Metallica's 'Trapped Under Ice'. Soon, Sasuke came upstairs (the studio is located in their basement, but the house is on a hill so half of the basement is actually outside) and asked the same question as Neji, and thus getting the same answer. He sighed and agreed, since it'd be a bit rude to just kick them out now.

* * *

**Seriously. It sucks to play and sing at the same time on Guitar Hero. Well, except 'Scream Aim Fire' and 'Trapped Under Ice' (I Don't own them!). Anyways, Next up will be a big surprise for Delightful, a heavy-ass jamming session and very, very interesting chain of events... =) **

**Until then!**

**~LazyNinja**


	9. Chapter 9: Nothing Else Matters

**Songs in order:**

**Living Shields - After Forever (NOOOOOOO!! AF broke up!!! ='( Ah well, there's still Within Temptation, Epica and Delain =D I love Dutch Sympho metal)  
Hellrider - Judas Priest  
Misery Business - Paramore (Sea of Treachery version, because it's metalcore and with guy vocals =P)  
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Metallica**

**I'm neither Kishi-san or any member of any of these bands, so I don't own.**

* * *

After dinner, the boys (Shikamaru) asked if the girls had brought their instruments, since they were obviously wanting to jam and the spare ones weren't that good. The girls nodded and Shikamaru ordered Kiba and Sasuke to aid the girls in getting their gear to the studio. As their stuff was set up, Kiba snatched Tenten's drum sticks and started playing some random beat. Sasuke chuckled as he failed miserably. Tenten booted the bassist away from her drum kit and showed him how it was done. Sasuke actually liked the beat and picked up his guitar, strumming a random riff. Kiba and Temari soon picked up with a double bass riff and two minutes later they were playing Akatsuki's 'Living Shields' with a double guitar and double bass to continue with Judas Priest's 'Hellrider'. The rest of SPZ came in whining that they'd started without them, and waited for the song to finish before picking up their respective instruments.

"Alright, time to party!" Naruto screamed, earning a cheer from several people in the room. He then looked to Sasuke. Sasuke smirked as he could read his blonde best friend's thoughts like a book. He informed the rest of the guys with the same look and then they started playing.

_I'm in the business of misery, Let's take it from the top  
She's got a body like an hourglass that's ticking like a clock  
It's a matter of time before we all run out,  
When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth_

_I waited eight long months, She finally set him free  
I told him I can't lie he was the only one for me  
Two weeks and we had caught on fire,  
She's got it out for me, but I wear the biggest smile_

_Whoa, I never meant to brag_  
**_But, I got him where I want him now_**  
_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag  
__**To steal it all away from you now  
**  
But god does it feel so good,  
Cause I got him where I want him now  
And if you could then you know you would_

_Cause god it just feels so..._

_Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change  
Once a whore you're nothing more, I'm sorry, that'll never change  
And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged  
I'm sorry honey, but I'm passing up, now look this way_

Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you  
Looking as innocent as possible to get to who,  
They want and what they like it's easy if you do it right  
Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!

_Whoa, I never meant to brag  
**But, I got him where I want him now**  
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag  
__**To steal it all away from you now  
**  
But god does it feel so good,  
Cause I got him where I want him right now  
And if you could then you know you would_

_Cause god it just feels so...  
It just feels so good_

_I watched his wildest dreams come true  
Not one of them involving you  
Just watch my wildest dreams come true  
Not one of them involving_

_Whoa, I never meant to brag,  
**But I got him where I want him now**_

_Whoa, I never meant to brag  
**But I got him where I want him now**  
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag  
**To steal it all away from you**_

_But god does it feel so good,  
Cause I got him where I want him now  
And if you could then you know you would__Cause god it just feels so..._

_It just feels so good_

The girls watched amazed as they heard and saw Strike Point Zero play one of _their _songs. Jaws dropped and eyes widened. It's not every day that one of your songs gets played by one of the hottest bands on earth after all. When it was done, Sasuke looked to the girls.

"How'd you like it? It's kinda the first time we play it."

"That..."

"Was..."

"AWESOME!!! OMFG YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOUUUUU!!"

"Troublesome..."

"And here I thought you passed the stage of fangirlism - oomph!" Sasuke never finished his sentence because he was pulled into a crushing hug by Ino. He tilted his head a bit with a lot of effort to see Kiba being crushed by Temari, Shikamaru being hugged by Hinata gently (The lucky ass, he thought), Naruto turning a bit blue form Sakura's embrace and Neji was smirking at him behind Tenten's back. He smirked back at Neji, their eyes saying the exact same thing:

'Score!'

He decided to take action before Naruto would die and said "Sakura, you may want to release the dobe before you choke him." Sakura smiled sheepishly and let go of the blonde hyperactive vocalist. The other girls released the boys too and they left the studio for a drink. Naruto took five beers out of the fridge, opened them with his teeth (Seriously, how the hell does he do that?) and passed the bottles to the rest of the guys. He then opened a bottle of wine and offered the girls a sip. They gladly accepted and when the bottles were all empty the gang left for the studio once more.

-----

After the jamming session, Sasuke went to the bacony and looked to the stars, lost in his thoughts. After a while, he heard a sound behind him and looked up. It was Sakura. He sighed.

"What do you want now?"

"Nothing, you just looked...lonely."

"Hn. I ain't lonely. I got my dad, my brother, my friends. What makes you think I'm lonely?"

"I dunno. The way you sometimes lock yourself out from the rest, I guess. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Yea I did, but why'd you call me a liar?"

"Because something IS wrong. I sure as hell noticed you didn't mention your mother just now. What happened?"

Sasuke sighed. He wasn't in the mood for this.

"Well?"

He still didn't reply.

"You know, it's rude to not answer a question."

He finally gave in. "Ugh. Fine. Sit down."

She eagerly did as he told and waited for him to start his story. He thought about something for a while and took a deep breah before starting to talk.

"My mother passed away."

"I'm sorry. How did it happen?"

"Car accident. We were heading to a rock festival when some drunk fuckfaced asshole decided he wanted to ram his junkpile into our ride. I was nine."

"That's horrible" she said, shivering at the thought of losing her mother at such a young age. "How'd you deal with it?"

"I didn't at first" he replied, remembering the hard times with a grimace. "But then I discovered the guitar. My mother used to play for us every now and then. I decided the best way to deal with her loss is to follow in her tracks and learning how to play the guitar. And so I did, and I kept getting better and better. It helped that I had a brother who was into guitar playing. I learned a lot from him, like how electric had way more options than acoustic. And there was Naruto."

"Naruto?"

He nodded. "Yeah. As unlikely as it sounds. But I've known the dobe as long as I can remember. He used to be our next-door, until dad's company made it big and we moved into a bigger house. We still went to the same school though, and we became best buddies along the way. Although we might act a bit different."

"True."

"Anyway, we went to high school and my dad's business kept growing. Itachi founded a band, Akatsuki, and I kept getting straight A's at school. But it wasn't what I really felt like doing. My passion was with music. Naruto and I had been jamming a lot together, and one day, our chance came."

"Explain please?"

"I was thirteen. At school I saw an ad about a guy called Neji wanting to start a band. The dobe, who was already an awesome singer by then, wanted to attend the auditions and dragged me along with him. We won the auditions by a long shot. I remember us jamming 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' perfectly. The three of us were the jury for Shikamaru's and Kiba's auditions, they won, and Strike Point Zero was born."

He paused for a moment, the memory of the meeting between him and the rest of the guys causing him to smile faintly. He pulled himself together and continued.

"We attended a lot of contests and band battles, which we totally dominated. We met Kakashi, a guitarist/leader of a band we defeated in a battle, and he said he would be honored to be our manager. Guess he saw potential, and he was right. He's actually right most of the times. He convinced my dad to sponsor us and then came our rise to fame."

"That's some story" Sakura said. "You're a lucky guy with friends like yours. We both are, actually."

"True. I'd trust them anytime. Something I never do. I don't really trust people any more since my mother died, but they are an exception. And so are Kakashi, Itachi and dad. They're my new family."

She suddenly thought about something. She looked up and asked:

"Hey, um, Sasuke? Would you...would you teach me how to play guitar?"

He looked up. "What's that got to do with my story?" He asked amused.

"Nothing, I just want to learn how."

"Alright, I'll teach ya. But bring your own guitar, you ain't gettin' mine."

"You will? Oh my god! Thank you!!" She pulled him in another tight hug. He struggled to break free, but when it turned out to be in vain, he said "Saku...ra...c-can't...breathe..."

She released him, smiling sheepishly and looked to the stars. She got lost in thought in a short while and Sasuke joined her in gazing at the sky. After a while, he said:

"Sometimes I wonder if she's up there, bragging to other dead folks about her son having made it big time in the rock scene."

"Sure as hell she would. She has the right to. But that's not the only reason."

"What more about me do you reckon she can brag about?"

"Well, you're a great guy, for starters. You act cool, indifferent and laid-back, but you're kind, compassionate and protective on the inside. You care a great deal about the people close to you, although you don't show it like Naruto does. And you're really good looking. No wonder you got such a huge fanclub." She looked him at him. "I'd be proud if my son turned out like you."

"Hn."

"There! That's what I mean" she said smirking. "Acting mr. Cool Guy Uchiha again. But I can see right through you now."

He smirked and said "If you can, you can surely tell me what's on my mind right now."

She looked him in the eye, spotting the mischievous glint and smirking.

"I can read you like a book, Uchiha Sasuke. You are planning something."

"Really now?" He asked playfully. "Then, mademoiselle Haruno, what is the great Uchiha Sasuke planning?"

"I don't think I have to explain. You just want me to say a single word and answer your question."

Sasuke turned away smiling and looked back to the sky. She _could _read him. This girl was definetely something else. He kept his gaze focussed on the stars and mentally argued with himself whether he should or shouldn't just ask her the damn question they were both thinking about.

He drew a breath and asked "You _do _realize the papparazzi will be all over you, don't you?"

"Of course."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yep. After all, a little free publicity won't hurt the band."

"I should've known..."

He took another deep breath and decided to do things the old-fashioned 'to hell with it'-way.

"Well then, Haruno Sakura, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Hell yea."

They looked at each other and smirked, both finding it unnecessary to ask what they would do next and deciding actions speak louder than words as their lips met.

They broke apart after what seemed like hours and just stared at each other, smirks playing on their faces.

"This is kinda stupid if you think about it" she started suddenly.

He gave her a half-surprised, half-amused look and asked "How come?"

"Well, we barely even know each other for one."

"And I already like you."

She sighed. "You're hopeless."

"Thanks, dear. I love you too" he said smirking before standing up and leaving the balcony.

* * *

**Awww, wasn't that sweet? Sasuke really does have a soft side!! xD Naruto, you owe me 20 bucks! (re-read ch1 if you don't get this) **

**Next up: parents-in-law...yuck. **

**Anyway****s, until then!  
~LazyNinja**


	10. Chapter 10: First Date

**Songs in order:  
****Pressure - Paramore  
****Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne  
****One - Metallica  
****Scream Aim Fire - Bullet For My Valentine**

**Own Naruto, I do not. To Kishimoto-san, it belongs. To the respective owners the songs belong. **

* * *

The next day, Sasuke woke up to his new girlfriend's voice on the radio, singing 'Pressure'. He smiled, and went inside his bathroom to take a shower while turning the volume up to maximum, doing something he rarely did: singing along with the song.

He was about to put his shirt on when his phone rang. He recognized the number and picked up.

"Hey baby."

"Hi Sasuke-kun! Hey, last night we were too...um...busy to decide when I'd start my guitar lessons."

"How about today? Got nothing better to do anyway."

"What was that? We haven't been together even a single day and you're already putting me on the second place?" She asked playfully. He smirked.

"That will require some getting used to. I always use that sentence."

"I forgive you. But I'll stop by at 1, okay? Kida busy writing somethin' right now."

"Writing? You just released your first album! Don't go overkill, Pinkie. It can kill you."

"Chill out, baby. We ain't workin' on a second record. Which doesn't mean we can't go writin' stuff. I remember a certain Uchiha telling me that 'whenever you get inspiration, just write. It can always prove useful afterward' after we did some serious karaoke."

"Hn. True. I guess I'm not fully awake yet. It ain't saturday for no reason after all. Which reminds me. Don't you have a gig to dominate tongiht?"

"Nope. We got the day off. The owner of the place we were supposed to perform suddenly closed the joint 'cuz his grandma died."

"Hn. Alright then. See you in 2 hours then."

"Okay. See ya!"

He hung up, picked up his shirt from his bed and left to get some breakfast. When he stepped on the last step of the stairs, a way too loud burst of noise came from the living room. Sasuke recognized it as Ozzy Osbourne's 'Crazy Train' and smirked. Looks like the dobe was trying to get a perfect career again. He walked into the kitchen and put some bread in the toaster before going to the living room, switching channels on the tv. Kiba stopped playing, but Naruto just kept going, oblivious to the fact the tv was on a news channel now. Sasuke smirked and put the game screen back on to show that Naruto hadn't missed a note. Kiba shook his head, muttering something like 'no-lifer', before picking up the bass part again.

* * *

The doorbell rang and Sasuke was downstairs to answer it in a matter of seconds. He opened the door and led his grilfriend in, giving her a quick kiss. He then noticed something, or rather he didn't see something he should.

"Where's your guitar?"

"Umm...yea, about that...I....kinda have no guitar" she said, an innocent smile appearing on her lips. He sighed exeggerative.

"Lesson one and you already forget your gear. You're hopeless. Well, let's go."

She looked at him puzzled. "Go where?"

"To buy you a guitar of course."

"But I'm broke! I can't afford a guitar right now!"

"I can."

Silence.

"What?" He asked casually.

"I...I can't ask that from you."

"You didn't. I offered to buy you one."

Silence again.

"But...But I ain't-"

"You are very much worth it, Sakura" he interrupted her. "Besides, I'm a millionaire for fuck's sake! What's a couple thousands of cash to me?"

"I can't argue with that" she finally gave in. "Thank you."

He smiled. "You're welcome. Izumo, get my car."

_"Your_ car?"

"Yep. My own black Lotus Elise. Birthday present from my brother." He smirked at her expression. "Being the little brother of a rock star has its good sides, you know."

"You guys are nuts..." she concluded, shaking her head and hopping in the passenger's seat of Sasuke's car.

* * *

"Here we are. Yamato's."

"Never heard of" she said, already window shopping. He chuckled. She looked up.

"What's so funny?"

"You're acting like a small kid in a candy shop the size of our house."

"Well, forgive me! But just look at all those awesome guitars they have here!"

"I know. And not only do they look great, they're top quality, too. There's no better guitars then Yamato's."

She looked surprised. "Really? Then why have I never heard of him before?"

"He works for Gibson" Sasuke explained. "He's an employee of theirs, and runs this store on their behalf. But he crafts better guitars than any other guitar maker."

"I see."

Sasuke opened the door for her and went inside the store after she had passed the doorstep, closing the door behind him. He wasn't surprised to see that the place was packed. He walked to the counter and waited for the brown-haired man to come to help him. Since he was currently talking with a man who didn't completely agree with his son buying a guitar, he suggested that his girlfriend should look around for a bit first. She agreed, and they walked over to the stock section. Sakura couldn't believe what she saw. Acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitars, acoustic bass guitars, equipment...She looked at Sasuke.

"Can I really pick what I like?"

"Go ahaead. I'll hear it when you're done" he said smirking and he took out his iPod, but she persisted.

"But Sasuke-kun, I need you to advice me on what I need!"

He sighed exeggerative. She punched him playfully, or tried to. Her hit never landed, because Sasuke had grabbed her wrist and held it tightly. She struggled to get loose, but in vain: he was much too strong. He smirked, looked at her to see her pouting, sighed again, and released her. She smiled sweetly and glomped him. He shook her off and looked at Yamato, who appeared to be done. Sasuke helped Sakura off the floor and went to talk to Yamato. The older man looked up, glad to see his famous guitar-playing friend. Sasuke smirked.

"Wassup, Yamato. You're doing good business lately, huh?"

"Yo, Uchiha. Yeah, these are good days. But I owe you big time for this, dude. You're my publicity."

"Yep. No better publicity than a famous rocker playing your guitars" Sasuke said smirking. He wrapped his arm around Sakura and pulled her closer.

"Speaking of guitars, I'm about to buy my girlfriend one."

Yamato laughed out loud. It took him about thirty seconds to cut it out. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"May I ask what's so extremely funny that you're cracking up?"

"Nothing dude" Yamato said, still chuckling. "I just didn't ever picture you having a _girlfriend_ of all things. I thought you labeled girls annoying."

"Wrong. I labeled _fangirls_ annoying. But Sakura's more than just a fangirl. She's special" Sasuke said, looking Sakura in the eye, making her blush.

"All right. What did you have in mind, Pinkie?" Yamato asked, still smirking.

Sakura thought about it for a while and concluded "Something pink. Don't care what brand or type."

Yamato looked amused and walked to the back of the store, gesturing the two to follow him. He picked up a pink Gibson X-Plorer and handed it to Sakura. Then he picked up a different shade pink Gibson Firebird and finally, a Gibson Les Paul with exactly the same color as Sakura's hair. She immediately fell in love with it and chose it as her new instrument. Sasuke decided to surprise her and gestured Yamato to come closer.

"Can you, like, put a custom graphic on it or something? For free?" he whispered.

"I think that'd be possible. What did you have in mind?" Yamato whispered back.

"Dunno. My family logo or something. No, on second thought, make it her band's logo" Sasuke hissed smirking slyly. Yamato grinned.

"Consider it done."

"Awesome. And while you're at it add a whammy bar too." Sasuke said. Yamato nodded and turned his attention back to Sakura.

"Alright Pinkie. You got your guitar. Pick an amp. You won't need one when you're with Uchiha since he seems to always have one at hand, but you may want to practice at home too. Just choose the one you like the most."

Sakura looked helplessly to Sasuke. He chuckled and took a look at the many different amps, before deciding on a Fender Vintage Reissue '65 Twin Reverb 85 Watts 2x12 inch Amp. She didn't know why he'd picked that one, but she trusted him, plus it looked slick. After the amp they moved on to the bags. Sakura picked a standard black bag along with numerous gimmicks she'd use to personalize her bag. Yamato threw in a package of free guitar picks and a bunch of goodies before going to his workshop. Sasuke smirked and Sakura asked him why.

"Just wait, Pinkie" Sasuke said. "Got a little surprise for you."

She turned her attention back to the door leading to the workshop, listening to the noise that came from it and anxiously awaited to get her surprise. After what seemd like hours to her Yamato returned with her guitar and showed it to her. Her eyes widened. Sasuke wrapped an arm around her waist smirking.

"Surprise. Do you like it?"

"Oh my god Sasuke thank you!! You're the best boyfriend ever!!" she squealed while nearly hugging him to death. He just smiled and mentally high-fived Yamato. He opened his mouth to say that he'd like to be set free now, but he never got the chance because Sakura caught his lips with her own.

* * *

"All right lesson one is how to hold the guitar, and the way you're doing it now is wrong" Sasuke said. "Don't try to copy Ino's or Naruto's or even my style. Just pick it up and hold it the way you like."

"Okay, so you mean like this?" Sakura said while positioning her newbought instrument the way she felt playable. Sasuke checked it and nodded. He lifted her left hand a bit up and explained this would be better to get the frets right. She hesistantly held a chord and strummed, not knowing what the hell she was doing. Sasuke immediately saw this and chuckled.

"Hold up a minute, Pinkie. Don't rush. Pick some single snares first, they're easier."

He explained the difference between snares and chords and taught her how to play both. She was a quick learner and already growing familliar with holding a guitar. He smirked at her progress and gave her something to practice on.

"Here, try this one out. It's called 'One'. Metallica. The intro is real easy to learn."

Sasuke showed Sakura which snares to hold and watched her battle with the guitar for a bit. It took het about two minutes to figure out. Then Sasuke took it up a notch, with Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water'. This went on for a while until there came a loud burst of noise from upstairs. Naruto had started playing Guitar Hero again, and of course he just HAD to play 'Scream Aim Fire', one of the loudest songs in the game. Sasuke rolled his eyes and told her she should practice a bit more at home. He then took her gear to his car, dumped it in the trunk, held the car door open for her before jumping into the driver's seat and driving her home.

* * *

**Muhahahahaa! Sakura just took the first steps on the gold-paved road of the guitar! Now it's just up to me... Anyways, Next up: News flash and P.I.L. (What that stands for, find out next time)! Sayonara!**

**Rock on  
~LazyNinja**


	11. Chapter 11: Come As You Are

**Songs:  
****Stricken - Disturbed  
****Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple  
****The Day That Never Comes - Metallica  
****Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses  
Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N' Roses  
****TNT - AC/DC  
****Scream Aim Fire - Bullet For My Valentine**

**Disclaimer: Insert random lame-ass disclaimer here.**

* * *

6:23 AM.

Sasuke was already wide awake, cursing Kiba's dog Akamaru for barking at the mailman. He went downstairs, patting the dog nonetheless, took the newspaper out of the mailbox and went to the kitchen. He turned on the coffeemaker and the radio (Metalhead 102.3, rock on bitches!) and waited for his coffee to finish. When the machine finally stopped making noise Sasuke took his beverage and sat down, paper in front of him. He read the headline while sipping from his coffee, and spit it all over the table.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The headline said:

**UCHIHA ITACHI HAS FOUND HIS MATCH!**

**It looks like the world famous lead guitarist of Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi, has finally found a love interest. He was spotted yesterday in a restaurant, far away from his band mates, but really close to a particular one. Konan, second lead singer of the same band, and Uchiha seemed to be quite intimate on their date, judging the photos. **

Sasuke sprinted back upstairs, startling Akamaru, snatched his phone from his desk and ran back down. He punched in Itachi's number and paced up and down irritated by his brother taking his sweet time to pick up his phone.

"Yo, Sasuke. 'Sup?"

"Dude, what the fuck?" Sasuke practically shouted. "You're all over the news all around the world! Don't go acting dumb on me bro, 'cuz you know what I'm talkin' about!"

"No, seriously. What's going on? Why am I on the-" Itachi never finished his sentence and Sasuke heard a loud crash, so he figured Itachi had just seen the headline and dropped his phone. He heard his brother shout "WHAT THE FUCK?!" vaguely and groaned in annoyance, since he had some more questions for his brother. So when Itachi finally grabbed his phone from the ground, Sasuke fired another question at him.

"I take it you saw the news. So what were you doing with her in a restaurant?"

"We were getting lunch for the band! And we ate ours there!"

"And that other picture where you two kiss?"

"..."

"Well?"

Itachi sighed. "Alright fine. We were on a date. I...asked her out and she accepted. Damn papparazzi. I'm gonna kill 'em!"

Sasuke chuckled. "Dude, chill out. You're not the only loverman in the family."

"Whaddya mean? You...ooh no you don't Sasuke. You just don't!"

"Yep. Guess I'm just better at hiding it."

"No you're not" Itachi said laughing on the other side of the line.

"What do you mean? I haven't seen any headlines saying 'Uchiha Sasuke in love' lately."

"I was just kidding, Sasuke. I already knew. Maybe you should've read the whole article, and not just the headline my dearest brother. Check it out: '...Not the only lucky Uchiha that recently found love. Itachi's little brother, Uchiha Sasuke, lead guitarist of the almost-as-famous band Strike Point Zero has also been spotted numerous times with a girl. Rumor says that her name is Haruno Sakura, and she is the lead singer of the up-and-coming band Delightful. Looks like it's late Valentine's day in Rock World.' Good job hiding it, jackass."

Sasuke fell silent and read the article. He cursed. Itachi was right. This wasn't over...

"God fucking dammit!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Say what Itachi. You track them papparazzi and I kill 'em. Slowly."

"Now you're talking." Itachi said, and Sasuke could just hear that he was smirking.

"I wouldn't try it, Sasuke. We'll get some very bad publicity if you do so" said a voice from behind Sasuke. He jerked around and saw Neji.

"Neji! Did you...uh...I mean...did you hear?"

"Pretty much. But I'm not as dense as Kiba or Naruto, bro. I figured it out as soon as I saw you drive away with her."

"Lemme guess...Shikamaru knows too?" Sasuke said and unsurprisingly, Neji nodded. Sasuke sighed.

"Figured as much. Anyway," he turned his attention back to the phone, "gotta go Itachi. Talk to you later."

"Yea, gotta go too. Designing a new guitar is hard work. Peace."

Sasuke hung up and turned back to Neji, asking him if he wanted coffee too. Neji agreed and dropped on the couch, turning on the TV. Naruto came sliding down the handbar a while after, and almost landed on Akamaru. Sasuke sweatdropped. No matter how old the dobe grew, he'd still behave like a little kid. Sasuke handed Neji his coffee and dropped on the other couch. Naruto could be heard singing along 'Stricken' since it was playing on the radio just now and Kiba soon joined in. Shikamaru was, of course, still sound asleep, and god knows where Kakashi had disappeared to. Akamaru grabbed Neji's shirt and tugged on it, signaling he wanted some attention too. Neji smiled and scratched the dog behind his ears, standing up to get the hungry animal some food. Izumo would walk it, since he was the only one besides Kiba who actually liked that (and even if he didn't, the boys would just make him do it. Ahh, it's wonderful to have money...xD).

Sasuke heard his phone ring, the sound of his own solo filling the room. He recognized Sakura's number and picked up.

"Morning Sasuke-kun! I hope I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"What makes you think that? It's already...6:37 AM! Normal people already wake up in about an hour!" He said sarcastically. She giggled. "No, but seriously, why are you calling this early?"

"I...I got into an argument with my dad last night, and it's kinda eating on me..."

"Well, spill it! what happened?"

"Umm..." She started, hesitating. Sasuke persisted and she gave in. "Well, he asked where I got my guitar, and I said I got it from you as a present. He...didn't believe me, to say the least. He couldn't believe I was dating a rock star."

"What the fuck? You're a rock star yourself!" Sasuke exclaimed. Sakura yawned.

"That's what I told him, but he said that was something different. I went upstairs pissed off and practically haven't slept since."

"And what do I have to do with it?"

"I was hoping you could come over or something, you know, get my father to know you, making him realize you're the best boyfriend a girl could ever hope for...that stuff" she said. Sasuke sighed.

"Fine. I'll be there at 10 o'clock sharp. Tell the oldies to get ready."

"Kay, see ya in a while! Love you!"

"Back at ya, baby. See ya."

Naruto and Kiba came walking into the living room, both chomping on some ramen. Naruo heard the last part of Sasuke's conversation and asked "Who are you callin' baby?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Maybe my gilfriend, genius. God, why are you my best friend..."

"Wait! Wait! YOU've got a GIRLFRIEND!?"

"No shit, genius. Since our jamming session with the girls. Now guess who."

Kiba and Naruto both shouted "SAKURA!" and Sasuke was actually impressed that they had guessed it right. They stated that it was the choice which made the most sense since he said he liked her earlier that day, and both proclaiming they might be a bit dense at times, but nobody was that stupid. Sasuke snorted he highly doubted that and went upstairs to get ready for his visit to his parents-in-law. Whoohoo.

He had decided to dress the way he always did, if the people had a problem with it then tough luck. He carefully packed his laptop in his bag and put his guitar in the one designed for it. Of course, he had made people make him a custom guitar bag, with his family logo and his name on it, the band's logo, Metallica's logo, Iron Maiden's logo, Akatsuki's logo, and a bunch of random shit that showed that he was a metalhead. 'This is Uchiha Sasuke. This is me, deal with it' he thought with a smirk And with that, he left. He dumped his guitar in the trunk of his car next to his amps and other gear, put his laptop carefully on the passenger's seat and hopped in the driver's seat. He hit the gas and raced away, ignoring the speed limit for the time being.

* * *

He pulled up in front of her home, slammed the door shut, took his guitar out of the trunk and walked up to the door. He heard Sakura play 'Smoke On The Water' and smiled. She had it down. He rang the doorbell and a woman he assumed to be Sakura's mother opened.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura's boyfriend?"

The woman smiled, and Sasuke found it kind of a forced smile. He shrugged it off and listened to the woman introduce herself.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun. I'm Haruno Sasame, Sakura's mother. I'll get her for you."

She walked upstairs and came back a short while after with Sakura on her tail. Sasuke smiled and hugged her. She dragged him over to the living room, where he set his bag in a corner and waited for someone to offer him a seat. He looked at the man (Probably her father) glaring at him and introduced himself once more.

"Morning, sir. Uchiha Sasuke, pleased to meet you."

"Hn. Haruno Hayashi."

"Sasuke-kun, would you like a drink?" Sakura yelled from the kitchen.

"No thanks!" He shouted back. He decided that he had waited long enough and sat down on the couch, nearly squashing a black-and-grey striped cat. He jumped back up, allowing the cat to move, before sitting down a second time. Sasuke locked eyes with Hayashi, showing he wasn't afraid of him. They waited for Sasame and Sakura to join them and Hayashi started talking.

"Alright kid. Sakura talked me into this so tell me: why do you think you deserve my daughter? 'Cuz on first sight, you look like the scum all of you rockers are."

Sakura opened her mouth but Sasuke silenced her with nothing more than a gesture. He looked Hayashi in the eye again and thus started the discussion.

"This style of clothing is me, Haruno-sama. I don't wear this shirt because all rockers wear black. I wear this because I feel comfortable in it. Same goes for my music. I like it, and I normally don't care what other people think about me. I've come here today because Sakura asked me to, and for her, I'll do anything. Even if I don't like it. Besides, why are you allowing your daughter to become a rock star if you detest them so much?"

"I still heard no reason why you'd be worthy of my daughter, kid. Don't change the subject."

"Like I said, I'd give my life for Sakura if I had to. She is my everything, and even though I just know her for about four weeks, I've completely fallen for her. She's perfect, and frankly, I wouldn't trust a metalhead with her either. We're kinda renowned for our rudeness and - forgive me - 'fuck the world' attitude. But I know myself, and I know that I'd try all the possibilities to keep her safe."

"Alright. Next issue: your music. Talk."

"Music is what I live for. Or used to live for. I now got one more thing to live for" he briefly looked Sakura in the eye smirking. "But that aside, I just like heavy music like that. Just like other people like dance music. Of course, I know most of my lyrics deal with death and hate and and anger. But that's the bizz. I spoke to a lot of songwriters about that. They start a song when they feel - forgive me - fucked up and find it a few days later when everything is fine, but just finish it for the sake of the song. Take your daughter's 'Pressure' for example. It's a good song, but doesn't describe the Sakura I've grown to love."

"Hn. Alright. Then how about all of those stories I read about you? That you were an asshole and a player and stuff."

"I only know one word to describe that: Bullshit." Sasuke said with a smirk. He thought he even saw Hayashi smile very faintly for a second, but when he took a good look his face was all serious again. Hayashi was about to say something again when Sasuke's phone rang. He looked at the number, recognized it as Kakashi's and picked up.

"Sasuke. 'Sup, Kakashi?"

"Sasuke, where the fuck are you? You were supposed to meet me like fucking an hour ago!"

"Since when did we have an appointment? Moreover, since when do you of all people actually care about being late?"

"What do you mean? Didn't Naruto tell you?"

"Dobe didn't say anything special, so what is going on?"

"Ever heard of a girl named Sakura?"

"Yea, she's right next to me. This isn't about that article from this morning, is it?"

"Damn sure it is. What the FUCK, Sasuke? You'll crush the band's image!"

"Dude, how many times do we have to tell you _we ain't no Shadow Assassin_!"

"Uhh...yea, well...I uhh...forgot about that. Must be the time. anyhow, I'd still like to know if one of you is dating. I'd hate to hear it from the press like Pein did. And myself, apparently. Oh, and remember soundcheck tomorrow at Tenzou's. Have fun on your date."

"Hn. Idiot. Later."

"Later."

Sasuke hung up and put away his phone, apologizing. "Please continue, mr Haruno."

"I was about to ask you to explain why you describe those articles as you did, but now I want to know: what is Shadow Assassin?"

"Kind of a long story" Sasuke said. "Let's start from the beginning. SPZ - That stands for Strike Point Zero - wasn't the world famous band we are nowadays. We were just a local cover band playing Metallica and Iron Maiden and Dio and Akatsuki and stuff like that. We were good though. Very good. One day, we entered a battle of the bands-contest. We rocked the crap out of our opponents, and ended up in the finals. We were playing up against a band known as Shadow Assassin, and we were psyched because they were awesome. I'll save you the details, but we won. After the show, their lead guitarist/band leader Hatake Kakashi came to congratulate us. He asked if he could talk to our manager. But we told him we had no manager, so he offered to become ours. That was...about three years ago, I guess. But those guys were real assholes, both onstage and in real life. And sometimes Kakashi seems to forget that we as SPZ save our badassness for the stage. In real life, I'm like every other person. Well, except for clothing. But I hate criminals, I don't do drugs, and I certainly wouldn't take advantage of a girl."

"I didn't hear no liquor."

"But who doesn't love an alcoholic beverage every now and then? I mean, It's not like I'm drunk as a duck every day, and I don't do crazy things whenever I am. I can control myself."

Hayashi sighed and thought about Sasuke's words for a while. Sasuke waited patiently, taking out his iPod and searching for Metallica's 'The Day That Never Comes'. Sakura grabbed his headphones smiling and he rolled his eyes, letting her listen. When Sasame said this would take a while and they could go upstairs, Sasuke took his guitar bag and laptop and dragged them upstairs, unpacking his instrument and plugging it to Sakura's amp.

He opened with a very tricky riff to annoy her and she soon gave up trying. And just to make it clear who was the master, he then showed off with an even trickier solo. When he was done, she was pretending to be sulking. He smirked.

"Come over here, baby. I'll teach you a new riff. It's one of my own."

Sasuke taught her the chords of 'Like The Angel' and left her free to try it out. He himself started 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns N' Roses. He soon had enough of it and stopped, only to hear Sakura's father sing the lyrics. He looked at her and she smiled.

"Dad used to be a Guns fan. GNR and AC/DC. He still often listens to their shit."

"Well he has the right to. It's kinda soft, but awesome nonetheless. Let's see if he knows this one."

And with that, he started 'Welcome To The Jungle'. And again, Hayashi could be heard singing. Sasuke smirked and grabbed one of Sakura's mics, plugged it in and played it again, this time doing the vocals too. Sakura smirked and Hayashi opened the door to her room, singing loudly.

_Welcome to the jungle  
We take it day by day  
If you want it you're gonna bleed  
But it's the price you pay  
And you're a very sexy girl  
That's very hard to please  
You can taste the bright lights  
But you won't get them for free  
In the jungle  
Welcome to the jungle  
Feel my, my, my serpentine  
I, I wanna hear you scream_

Welcome to the jungle  
It gets worse here everyday  
Ya learn ta live like an animal  
In the jungle where we play  
If you got a hunger for what you see  
You'll take it eventually  
You can have anything you want  
But you better not take it from me

"Not bad, kid. I didn't know you play old stuff too."

Sasuke smirked. "I'm full of surprises. Wanna hear some Pearl Jam? AC/DC? Led Zeppelin? You name it. I'll play it."

"Alright. Let's see...'TNT' by AC/DC seems good."

Sasuke handed him the mic and started playing, much to Hayashi's surprise. What Sasuke didn't expect was Hayashi's fairly good voice. By the end of the song, Sasuke continued with their own 'Scream Aim Fire', altough failing miserably at the screaming parts. He smiled sheepishly.

"Gotta ask Naruto to teach me how to do that sometime. I suck at screaming."

"Strangely, I don't mind" Hayashi said and the two teens laughed. Hayashi continued "Look, kid, I gave things a thought, and talked it over with Sasame." A smirk crept up his face. "Welcome to the family."

Both Sasuke and Sakura shouted smirked as they entered in a long kiss. Hayashi smirked too, and decided to let the two love birds alone.

'Not bad, Uchiha. Looks like you're better at raising kids than I gave you credit for.'

* * *

**A/N: Chapter done! This one's for Sara, she's having a real hard time atm. Like 2Pac always said: Keep ya head up, and nothing else matters. **

**Next up: Not telling. It's a surprise. =3**

**Rock on!**


	12. Chapter 12: Perfect Insanity

**Songs: **

**Temptation - Cradle of Filth  
****Stricken - Disturbed  
****Tears Don't Fall - Bullet For My Valentine  
****In Your Face - Children of Bodom  
****Kirisute Gomen - Trivium**

**Disclaimer: Don't own shit. I wish I would.  
**

* * *

The boys were hanging out with the girls, like every friday night, and were currently discussing making a song together. Ino had planned Naruto and Sakura on vocals, Sasuke on guitar, Temari on bass, Tenten on drums and Shikamaru on keys. Sasuke wasn't following the conversation and he didn't care: he was thinking about life before that fatal night, and what his mother would say to him now if she survived. He was ripped from his thoughs by a smack on his back, coming from Itachi. They all looked up surprised.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto exclaimed.

Hidan smiled, but didn't reply; he was silenced by one of Konan's glares. Itachi chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. He looked at the blonde before replying "We need to discuss something with you."

Kisame explained their plans.

"We were planning to set up a joint tour around the country, as a sign of appreciation to our fans. You know, SPZ and Akatsuki together on one stage..."

"It'll be booming" added Hidan.

Kakashi walked over to the group of rockers, followed by Pein.

"...Sure that it will be a huge success, Kakashi. Think about it. Akatsuki and Strike Point Zero, probably the hottetst bands on earth right now, teaming up in - Oh hey, fellas."

The musicians greeted the two managers and offered the new guests a drink. They accepted and Pein continued persuading Kakashi to join his band on the tour. Kakashi finally gave in.

"Alright, fine! You win Pein. But because I like you, YOU can set up the whole thing."

Pein sweatdropped. "Gee, thanks. Appreciate that."

"You're welcome. Anyway, what are you planning for setlists?"

"Nothing really shocking. Few of our best songs, few of yours. Maybe record a few together."

"Ummm, Pein, we ain't gonna make that. I mean we've got an album that needs finishing, and a promotion tour..."

"We'll use the tour as our promotion" Sasuke said. "That way we've got free promotion by one of the best bands in the world. Still, the tour won't take place in a few months though if we do it that way."

"So you guys are down with the idea?" Pein asked. SPZ nodded. "Awesome. Take your time finishing your record and we'll hear from you."

Sakura was tired of waiting and asked "Can we be the opening act?"

Kakashi looked at her, his eyebrow raised. Pein was at a loss of words until Kakashi made his decision.

"Sure, why not? You rock."

Smirks were exchanged throughout the group, and the three bands left for a random club to get some partying done.

* * *

Sasuke was sitting on his bed, his iPod blearing though his eardrums and a pen and notebook on his lap. He was working on a song he would sing together with Sakura the next time they'd see each other. She was really getting good at guitar playing, and was learning how to play the real difficult riffs like Slayer and Metallica. Delightful had decided that the next album would be a bit heavier, and more like metal than punk. Sakura was learning how to distort her instrument properly for a metal-ish sound at the moment, and Sasuke decided this was the perfect occasion for a new song. Of course, it was the old Sasuke-style. He wrote down to more lines and re-read his text up until now:

_All I desire  
_**Temptation  
**_Keep climbing higher and higher  
_**Temptation  
**_Adorable creatures  
_**Temptation  
**_With unacceptable feautres  
_**Temptation  
**_And trouble is coming  
_**Temptation****  
**_It's just the high cost of loving  
_**Temptation  
**_And you can take it or leave it  
_**Temptation  
**_But you'd better believe it_

**You've got to make me an offer  
****that can not be ingored  
****So let's head for home now  
****everything I'll have is yours**

_**Leave no trace  
**__**Guard your face**_

_Chorus_

He was quite proud of it, like he was always. He turned on his laptop and typed the lines into a word document before saving it and picking up his guitar, creating a new guitar riff for the song. He was in the middle of it when Naruto barged in.

"Yo, teme! What you up to?"

"Hn."

"That's no answer. C'mon, spill it."

"Fine. I'm working on a song."

"There's no more room on the album, you know that right?" Naruto asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Of course I know, dobe. It's a song I'm writing for myself and Sakura."

"I see. So when's it gonna be done?"

"Never if you keep bugging me like this" Sasuke said pushing a struggling Naruto out of the door.

"C'mon man. Lemme help!" Naruto begged. Sasuke sighed.

"Why are you my best friend...fine."

"Whoohoo!"

Naruto skipped in and plugged in his guitar. He finetuned it and played a random riff before asking "So, whaddya want me to do?"

"Just shut up and listen."

Naruto huffed, but kept his mouth shut nonetheless. Sasuke played his song, failing again at screaming. Naruto laughed out loud.

"Dude, why do you even bother trying? You. Can't. Scream. Want me to spell it our for you?"

Sasuke shot him a glare, and Naruto shut up immediately. Sasuke finished the riff and looked back at Naruto.

"Hey, dobe. There's not much you're good at, but you _can_ scream. Think you can teach me?"

* * *

The stadium was packed. It still amazed the raven-haired boy. He watched his girlfriend rock out on 'Pressure', and smirked. She was even more beautiful on stage. He overheard Delightful play an encore before making their leave. Sasuke picked up his guitar and walked to the stage, quickly kissing Sakura in the process.

He smirked to his brother, who smirked back. They both started hammering the chords for 'Stricken' simultaneously, Naruto grabbing the mic and singing the lyrics. Hidan came onstage too, backing up the blonde vocalist. Kisame banged the drums, and Kiba was casually playing his bass.

The group hit the last notes and Sasuke took the opportunity to get some promotion done. Everything was according to plan.

"Allright everyone, you having a good time?"

The crowd cheered.

"Good. Then allow me to introduce to you a brand new song, coming from the new SPZ album 'Dead Memories': this is 'Tears Don't Fall'."

**[A/N Bold is Sasuke, Italic is Naruto, blah blah. Sasuke doesn't do the vocals on the album version.]**

_Let's Go!_

**With bloodshot eyes, I watch you sleeping  
****The warmth I feel beside me is slowly fading  
****Would she hear me, if I called her name  
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame  
**

Sasuke surprised everyone by suddenly using the scraming technique.

**  
There's always something different going wrong!  
The path I walk is in the wrong direction  
There's always someone fucking hanging on  
Can anybody help me make things better!!**_**Your tears don't fall  
They crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home  
Your tears don't fall and crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home **_

**The moments die, I hear no screaming  
****The cisions left inside me are slowly fading  
****Would she hear me, if I called her name  
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame**_**Your tears don't fall  
They crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home  
Your tears don't fall and crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home **_

There's always something different going wrong!  
The path I walk is in the wrong direction  
There's always someone fucking hanging on  
Can anybody help me make things better!!

_Oh!_

_Yeah!!_

_This battered room I've seen before  
The broken bones they heal no more, no more  
With my last breath I'm choking  
Will this ever end I'm hoping  
My world is over __**one more time!**_

**Lets go!**

Naruto suddenly surprised friend and foe by playing the solo. Itachi looked at him with a look that said 'When did he learn that?' and Sasuke shrugged. Naruto just smirked. What? Sasuke took his job, now he can take his. He continued shredding the solo and fell into the rhythmic riff soon after.

**Would she hear me if i called her name  
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame**

**There's always something to be going wrong  
The path I walk's in the wrong direction  
There's always someone fucking hanging on  
Can anybody help me make it better**__

_**Your tears don't fall  
They crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home  
Your tears don't fall **__tears don't fall__**  
They crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come  
**__**  
**_**Better!**__

_**Your tears dont fall they crash around me  
Her conscience calls the guilty to come home.  
**_

The crowd went crazy. SPZ had released another album! Akatsuki smirked and started jamming a medley of their first album, 'Daybreaker', with crowd favorites as 'In Your Face' and 'Kirisute Gomen'. SPZ soon fell in sync with the older band, making the audience go wild. The two Uchiha boys smirked. They were far from done yet.

* * *

  
**A/N Concert! I love doing those. Naruto can shred too! That kid really is full of surprises. Next up: last gig and afterparty! **

**Rock on! -air guitar riff- xD (I'm weird, I know)**


	13. Chapter 13: The Memory Remains

**Songs:  
Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce  
****Trapped Under Ice - Metallica****  
Stricken - Disturbed  
****Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana  
Pride - SOiL  
Holy Diver - Dio (Killswitch Engage version)  
Powerslave - Iron Maiden  
Master of Puppets - Metallica  
Waking the Demon - Bullet For My Valentine  
Enter Sandman - Metallica**

**Disclaimer: Sigh...no.**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Sasuke and Itachi stood back to back while simultaneously playing the 'Through The Fire And Flames' solo. Shikamaru and Kakuzu rocked out on their special effects pads, Kiba and Deidara were playing their bass guitars with such ease that it was like the song wasn't the least challenge to them, and Hidan and Naruto headbanged so roughly that it would surely give them a headache. Neji and Kisame were banging the drums at top speed, ocassionally throwing in a drum solo.

_**Now here we stand with their blood on our hands.  
We fought so hard, now can we understand.  
I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can.  
For freedom of every man.  
**_

_**So far away we wait for the day, **_

_**For the lives all so wasted and gone.  
We feel the pain of a lifetime **_

_**lost in a thousand days,  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on**_

The crowd was ecstatic. The show was the best ever, no doubt about it. They were even more surprised to get a free copy of the new SPZ album 'Dead Memories' when they exited the stadium. Sasuke smirked.

"Guys, this was epic."

"Definetely" Kisame agreed. "Too bad today was the last performance."

"Lucky us," Naruto said, "that we've still got the 'Memorial Tour'. World tours all the way!"

"In fact, we're still looking for some tour companions. Itachi, think you could do us a favor?" Sasuke looked in the direction his brother was a moment ago, but right now he was nowhere to be found. "Itachi?"

Sasuke suddenly spotted his brother, making out with Konan like his life was depending on it. He sweatdropped. Hidan and Kisame chuckled, Kakuzu sighed and Deidara looked like he was about to kill the older Uchiha any moment. Sasuke asked Kisame about it.

"I think Dei-Dei has a crush on Konan too" Kisame said, smirking. "Poor Dei-Dei didn't stand a chance against your bro..." Kisame started to laugh, and Sasuke chuckled.

Suddenly, Sasuke was being jumped from behind. His instincts went on fangirl alert, but his mind remembered Sakura. His mind won the battle and he turned around, kissing his pink-haired girlfriend and hugging her lovingly. He looked up to see his bandmates being glomped by the girls too, and smirked.

* * *

He woke up with a terrible hangover, and he had a hard time walking to the bathroom without losing his balance. He somehow wasn't surprised to see Kiba lying in his bathroom, accompanied by a few groupies. He smirked and kicked the bassist; he woke up with an annoyed groan and a dizzy head.

"Rise and shine, Kiba. How're you feeling?"

"Ugh...I feel like there's been an elephant sleeping on my head last night...must've been some party."

"Yeah...I'm relieved that I didn't do anything stupid last night, considering Sakura."

"You mean banging groupies like me?" Kiba said with a smirk. "Too bad, loverboy."

"Morning, fellas..." Kisame came in, holding his head. He slumped to the medkit and took out a bottle of painkillers to lessen his headache before dragging his tired body away again. Kiba and Sasuke left too, careful not to wake Sakura up.

Neji was awake too, but barely: He was more or less sitting on the couch, and Sasuke would reckon he was sound asleep if he didn't reply to the guitarists entering the room. Sasuke greeted him and advised him with a smirk to put some pants on before one of the girls would spot him.

Shikamaru was, of course, still sound asleep, but this time with Temari in his arms. At least that's what Kiba said. Sasuke didn't know if he had to believe that when he realized that he didn't even know the time so he looked on the (way too big) clock in the living room: 10:48 AM. He vaguely remembered dropping his drunk and tired body on his bedsheets around 6, so he barely slept five hours. He smirked. Rock star life all the way.

Naruto, Deidara, Hidan, and some groupies had found some makeshift sleeping places in the kitchen, now still in slumber and in Naruto's case snoring loudly. Sasuke heard Itachi come downstairs and smirked at his brother.

"Sup, bro. Must've been some party, huh?" Itachi said, still a bit sleepy. "I'm sure it was...look at the state everyone is in."

Sasuke smirked. This was the perfect time to play a prank on his brother. He looked at his brother and said "You mean you don't remember making out with all those girls while Konan wasn't watching?"

Itachi's face turned really pale, and his eyes went wide with shock. Had he really done that? "Dammit! I'm so dead when she finds out-"

"When she finds out what, Itachi?" Konan said, walking up behind her boyfriend. Itachi gulped.

"When you...erm...you know..."

"When you find out that he has been totally punked by his little brother!" Sasuke yelled, laughing his ass off. Konan burst out in laughter too, and Itachi went red with rage as soon as he realized Sasuke had tricked him.

"That's it Sasuke. You're dead!" Itachi roared, as Sasuke ran for his life still cracking up. Itachi pursued his younger brother pulsing with killing intent, and was soon tackled by Kiba and the now awake Deidara. They laughed, and told Sasuke to run for it while they'd slow the older Uchiha down.

A few minutes later, the whole place was one big chaos of people. Groupies were getting kicked out, Itachi was still tracking down Sasuke with the intention to kill him and the rest was either trying to stop the rampaging Uchiha or help him. Konan interfered in the matter as soon as Itachi came out of the kitchen wielding a kitchen knife, and calmed him down. Upon deciding it was safe, Naruto and Kiba fetched Sasuke to get a bite to eat. It was pretty much impossible for anyone to be asleep right now anyway.

Shikamaru came downstairs grumbling something about immature people, and sat down next to Temari, kissing her quickly before digging in. Sasuke was amazed. Kiba told the truth after all. He returned the smirk the lazy keyboardist was giving him, finished his food and went upstairs for a shower.

When he was done, he found Naruto, Kiba and Kisame playing Guitar Hero (again). He smirked, waited until their song was done and snatched the guitar controller for Naruto's hands. The blonde looked up, smirked and ripped the mic from its stand. Sasuke played along with Metallica's 'Trapped Under Ice', clearing it 100% on the first try. Soon, they had enough of the game, getting some serious jamming done.

* * *

Itachi was teaching Ino how to play the 'Stricken' solo, Shikamaru was fixing Hinata's keypad getting her a shitload of new sounds and Naruto, Hidan, Tenten, Temari and Kiba were jamming some Iron Maiden. Sasuke was teaching guitar lessons too, to his girlfriend. She had 'Like The Angel' down, and was now working on 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana.

"Nice work, Pinkie. A little longer and you might start making your own songs."

"Really? Awesome!" Sakura exclaimed, missing a few notes. Kisame and Deidara dropped the loops for their instruments. She looked up, realizing she wasn't paying attention. "Sorry guys!"

Sasuke picked up his guitar and nodded to Kisame. Kisame smirked and started drumming, Sasuke doing the intro for 'Pride', another song from the new album 'Dead Memories'. Soon, Deidara picked up the bass loop. A minute later, Sasuke switched to Dio's 'Holy Diver', and from that to Iron Maiden's 'Powerslave'. Sakura rolled her eyes and started working on her lessons again, not noticing Pein, Kakashi and Anko coming in. Kakashi looked at the jamming kids, remembering the good times.

"Hey, were we that good when we were their age?" Pein asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"We could only dream of being that good" Anko replied. "I get my ass kicked in bass battles against Temari over and over."

"Heh. Fankly, I can't keep up with Naruto or Sasuke either" Kakashi agreed. "The best thing I could come up with at their age was Dio. Things like Metallica were way outta my league. Last week, I heard Sasuke playing 'Master Of Puppets' as a warm up."

Pein looked at the other two managers. "Hey, what do you guys say? How about we kick the toddlers away from those instruments and jam a few tracks, for old times' sake?"

He smirked back at the other two managers' smirks and interrupted the jamming session. Pein practically dragged Kisame away from his kit, taking the shark-man's place. Kakashi picked up one of the many spare guitars, by chance picking up the ESP LTD ED-400 limited Uchiha Sasuke edition. Anko snatched Temari's bass and soon, Akatsuki, SPZ and Delightful were watching their managers jam, smiles on their faces. They weren't that bad at all, it was just the horribly outdated music. AC/DC, Guns 'N' Roses, The Rolling Stones...

They were surprised when Kakashi suddenly opened for 'Waking The Demon' by Akatsuki. Itachi's senses were on sharp, and he was clearly checking Kakashi for any mistakes. Naruto, Hidan and Sasuke laughed at the silver-haired manager when he attempted to scream, failing horribly. Hidan grabbed the mic, and did it correctly. Soon, all musicians were jamming the same song at the same time, the song being the legendary 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica. Sasuke, Itachi, Ino and Naruto did a quadruple solo, with Kakashi and Sakura on double rhythm. Kiba, Temari (who had managed to get her bass back from her manager, leaving Anko with a spare one), Anko and Deidara were on quad bass, Kisame, Tenten, Pein and Neji on quad drums. The vocals were like an entire choir.

_Now I lay me down to sleep__  
**Now I lay me down to sleep  
**__Pray the Lord my soul to keep  
__**Pray the Lord my soul to keep  
**__And if I die before I wake  
__**And if I die before I wake  
**__Pray the Lord my soul to take  
__**Pray the Lord my soul to take**_

_Hush, little baby, don't say a word  
__And never mind that odd noise you heard  
__It's just the beasts under your bed__  
In your closet, in yout head_

_**Exit light!  
**__**Enter night  
**__**Grain of sand**_

_**Exit light  
**__**Enter night  
**__**Take my hand  
**__**We're off to never never land**_

They cheered as they finished the song. Upon deciding it had been fun, but it was time to go, Akatsuki and Delightful left the Strike Point Zero mansion. Sasuke and Shikamaru kissed their girlfriends goodbye, ignoring Naruto and Kiba's teases, and went inside.

* * *

**A/N I really need to get Master of Puppets down on Guitar Hero. It's such an awesome song, but it's finger-breaking hard. Sigh. Anyway. I had an especially hard time getting this done (which resulted in 'The Struggle Within'), but here it is. Oh, Shika and Tema will have their 'moment' later on. I didn't want to fuck it up with a writer's block scene.**

**Next up: Boy trouble/girl trouble. Or just trouble in general. I think I'll leave it at that. **

**Rock on!**


	14. Chapter 14: In the Name of Tragedy

**A/N ****Songs:  
****Closer - Lacuna Coil  
****All We Are - Warlock  
****My Immortal - Evanescence  
****Waking the Demon - Bullet For My Valentine  
****Pride - SOiL  
****One - Metallica (I could rant on about how much I love this song...)  
****Falling Away - Dope  
****Angel of Death - Slayer**

* * *

Sakura gnawed on her pen as she was struggling to finish a song. She wrote down two more words before scratching them away again. How did Sasuke do this? As a matter of coincidence, the raven-haired guitarist decided to call her at that exact moment.

"It's Saukra."

"Hey baby, it's me."

"Yeah, I guessed" Sakura replied giggling. "Hey, good thing you called. I was working on this song, but I can't come up with something good if it'd save my life."

"So?"

"How do you deal with that?"

"I don't, to be honest" Sasuke replied. "I can't remember ever having a writer's block thing."

"..."

Sakura was dumbstruck. Sasuke had wrote almost four full albums and never suffered from writer's block?

"Umm, Pinkie? You still there?"

Sakura came back to her senses and shoook her head. "Yea, I'm here. I was amazed that you can write that much that smoothly."

"Guess I'm just awesome" Sasuke replied slightly arrogant, but in a playful way. Sakura giggled. "No, but seriously. What do you have right now?"

"Hmm... "

Sakura read out loud what she had wrote down. It read:

_I Want to get closer, in too deep  
Where there is something I wish for I'll go through  
Want to get closer into you  
No hell to discover  
I've got it all inside myself  
Salvation you have preached is gone  
No way you can turn it around_

Sasuke was quiet for a while, before saying "Not bad. Sounds kinda...heavy. Comparing to your first album, which sounded just happy and...carefree, this is is completely different."

"I thought I told you that ages ago."

"Hmm, I vaguely remember you mentioning that...Which reminds me of something...Anyways, back to the song...first thing I thought was 'higher ground'. Maybe you can do something with it."

Sakura pondered, until fresh inspiration hit her. "You mean like...'Looking for a higher ground/Searching for this something I missed before'?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Nice work."

Sakura thanked her boyfriend, hung up and continued writing with her new inspiration. She kept at it for an hour, before picking up her guitar and trying a few riffs. She was almost done when the doorbell rang. Since her parents went to the theatre and her older brother didn't live here any more, she was the only one home and thus had to answer it. She opened the door to reveal Ino and Tenten.

"Ummm, what are you two doing here?"

"Just thought it nice to say hi to our singer" Ino replied. She sighed at the sceptic look she was receiving from Sakura and added "...And I wanted to show you a few songs I've been working on."

"There you go. Tenten?"

"Same reason."

"Fine by me. Come in."

The three girls went to Sakura's 'practice room', a small room next to her bedroom with a spare drum kit, a few amps and a shitload of mics. Ino had wisely brought her own instrument, a black ESP H-1001. Sakura showed the girls the lyrics she had been working on, and they showed her theirs. Most of it quite sucked, in Sakura's opinion. However, Ino had one song that was awesome. She had named it 'All We Are', and it rocked. Tenten had come up with 'My Immortal', which was supposed to be keyboard and vocals only. Sakura, who had sung the song once, agreed.

A jamming session and riff creation later the three girls dropped on Sakura's couch, careful not to spill their drinks. Tenten turned on the TV, and wasn't surprised to see a video clip of 'Waking The Demon' by Akatsuki playing. Soon, they got into a conversation about the boys.

"So you never looked past Sasuke, _ever_?" Ino asked unbelieving. Sakura shook her head.

"Nope. And why would I? He's perfect."

"Good point" Ino admitted. Sakura gave her a weird look.

"What's that? I thought you were into Shikamaru?"

Ino shrugged. "I was, until Temari ran off with him. And before you ask, no, I'm not bitter. They look way too cute toghether to be bitter about that. Besides, I have grown a liking to Kiba somewhere along the way, so there's plenty of options." She smirked evilly.

Their attention switched back to the TV when an utterly familiar riff sounded, and indeed, it was Strike Point Zero's 'Pride'. The clip started with Neji drumming the shit out of his kit (in a good way), before the camera switched to both Neji and Naruto. By the time the first chorus started, Tenten was already drooling. Since Shikamaru and Sasuke, and soon Kiba (Tenten wasn't the type of girl to steal anyone's boyfriend, no matter how she felt about that person) were out of the market, it left two options: Neji or Naruto.

Ino and Sakura looked to each other, somehow conversating without talking.

_"Who do you think it is?"_

_"It's proabably Naruto. Neji's way too quiet for her."_

_"Yeah, but Neji likes hitting stuff just as much as she does. Plus he's hotter."_

Sakura had to admit that was true, and a smirk crept up her face. "Ten bucks."

Ino returned the smirk and replied "fifty."

"You're on."

Next moment, the poor drummer was glomped and interrogated by her band mates/friends/sister-like people. She honestly hadn't known she had been drooling, and was quite embarrassed when she heard.

"Don't you dare to zone out on us, young lady!" Sakura screeched. "I order you to tell us now!!" Tenten, slightly pissed off to say the least, rolled her eyes and gave in.

"Fine...The one I like is N-wait, lemme make it just a little harder on you." She smirked evilly, and tried to come up with a vague description to keep them occupied. Sakura and Ino groaned.

"Alright let's see...he is about 6 feet, can play several instruments, and doesn't write songs often. I heard he is a fan of Metallica, and Guitar Hero. He might be a little weird, but he sure is reliable. His favorite food...No, that would make it too easy..."

The pink- and blond-haired girls could see why. After all, if it was Ramen, it was Naruto, and if it wasn't, it was Neji. Damn. Tenten sure was good. As far as they knew, both Naruto and Neji hit 6 feet, they both worshipped Metallica, and they were both very, _very _reliable when it comes to it. They also knew that Neji could play guitar too, given it wasn't as good as Naruto or Sasuke. And Naruto was...well Naruto. He seemed able to do everything and anything. It wouldn't surprise them if he could play every single intsrument mankind ever made.

Sakura groaned. She really wan't in the mood for this riddle-game-like thing. There must be this one small detail Tenten must have forgotten... Just one....

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's it!! Ino, I know who it is Tenten likes!"

* * *

Tenten looked up horrified. What? There was no way Sakura could have figured it out that fast! What did she hear to make her come to her conclusion, right or not? Moreover, what did she give for critical info?

"Alright. First of all, Tenten, I hate you for doing this to us. So there. Second, figuring this thing out was a pain. Your description was almost perfect, Tenny. You just forgot one tiny little thing. I mean, both the boys are around 6 feet, they both are Metallica-crazy, and they both can be very reliable. Sasuke also told me that Neji could play guitar a bit, and since Naruto is Naruto, he probably can play piano, violin, harp, trumpet and God knows what more too. The video games part is obvious, since they're always playing with Kiba when we visit. Which leaves..."

"The songwriting part?" Tenten exclaimed. "You got it from _that_?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Because you see, we all know Sasuke writes most of the stuff they play. Shikamaru, being the genius he is, takes up most of the writing credit left. But Sasuke once told me why. It was because Kiba really hates writing, and he sucks at it too. Like out-of-20-songs-only-one-might-be-okay-with-a-lot-of-effort-sucks. Neji and Naruto both have few writing credit too, but for very different reasons."

"Argh! Just spill it already!" Ino exclaimed. Sakura smirked evilly, and Tenten just looked angsty.

"I was about to, Ino. Just shut up and listen. The reason Neji doesn't get a lot of credit is because he doesn't like writing. Once he does, however, he writes the most amazing stuff. Naruto on the other hand, likes writing a lot, and he has written a lot of stuff, but like Kiba, he just plain sucks at it. That's how I figured it out."

The pink-haired vocalist looked to the drummer hopefully, and Tenten sighed. Bitch was getting as smart as Shikamaru. "Aight, you got me. I like SPZ's drummer, Neji Hyuuga. Go you."

That last sarcastic comment wasn't heard, because both girls had started cheering. Suddenly, Sakura remembered her bet with the guitarist and froze. She looked to said blonde with wide eyes, and was met by her evil 'I-was-right-and-you-were-wrong' smirk. She sighed and took out her wallet to pay her. A bet was a bet after all.

* * *

Sasuke groaned in annoyance as Naruto started playing 'One' for the thirty-seventh time in a row. _Thirty-seven._ He had just bought Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and was about to clear it on expert, if it wasn't for that one song. The raven-haired guitarist decided to overpower his blonde best friend and connected his biggest, loudest, and coolest amp. He picked up his brand new guitar, the good old Gibson Les Paul signature Sasuke Uchiha version. He smirked as he started jamming 'Falling Away', one of Shikamaru's songs. It was enough to make the blonde idiot realize he had to stop playing.

"Oi, teme! Cut it out! I stopped already!" Naruto yelled upstairs. Sasuke smirked.

"So what? I like this one!"

"Dude, cut it out! There's someone at the door!"

He rolled his eyes and stopped playing. He then went to listen who was visiting. Probably either the girls, Kakashi, or some reporters/papparazzi/annoying people. The bigger was his surprise when he heard Naruto say "Itachi? What's up?"

Sasuke practically ran downstairs, and was met by a very, _very_ depressed Itachi. He glared at Naruto, as if saying 'get the dude a beer, and bring one for me while you're at it' and sat down next to his older brother.

"Ey, bro. 'Tsup? Never seen you so down."

Itachi didn't reply, and Naruto returned with three beers. Itachi didn't touch it however. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Look, Itachi, we can't help you if you don't tell us what the fuck is wrong."

Still no reaction. Sasuke was getting irritated. "Alright, that's it. I'm calling Konan."

"Don't bother."

Naruto and Sasuke looked to the older Uchiha confused. "Why not?"

"Because she _is_ the problem" Itachi said, visibly hurt. Sasuke sat back down.

"Care to fill us in? Did you two break up?"

Itachi shook his head. "No. Not yet, anyway. We were fighting just now, and it kinda escalated."

"Troublesome women" Shikamaru remarked while walking in. "A few words of advice, Itachi: just let it rest. It'll help. Give it some time, talk it over, and there: all will be like nothing ever happened."

Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto were all dumbfounded. Sasuke was the first to roll his eyes and say "Is there _anything _you _don't _know?"

Shikamaru replied with his signature catchphrase and turned on the TV. Naruto suggested that Itachi should stay over for tonight, and he accepted. Next thing they knew, they were playing Slayer's 'Angel of Death' in the music studio. After the oomphteenth beer, the guitarist trio started to get giddy and missing notes. Upon deciding playing wasn't really working any more, they decided to go old school and get drunk.

Two hours later, Itachi, Naruto and Sasuke came swaying out of a bar, not really remembering how they got there in the first place. the Uchiha brothers both were wary of their actions though; drunk or not, they both had (ex?)girlfriends to think about. Thus Naruto was the only one really enjoying the night, or so he said after making out with the seventh girl that evening. Quoting him after Sasuke rolled his eyes after his previous statement:

"Hey, it's not _my _fault they throw themselves at me just because I'm famous."

The rest of the evening was pretty much of a blur, and the only thing they could think of right now was just getting to bed. They would deal with their hangovers tomorrow.

* * *

**A/N Chapter 14 already? I didn't really like making Itachi and Konan fight, but every relationship is rocky. Well, most of them are. Oh, and don't worry about Naruto's player attitude. He's Cupid's next target. =)**

**Next up: Dates, dates, and...well, music. Duh. Oh, and Kabuto's making an appearance! XD I hate that guy, so be prepared for the worst 0=)**

**See ya!**

**~LazyNinja**


	15. Chapter 15: Blow Me Away

**A/N Songs:  
Even Flow - Pearl Jam  
****Holy Diver - Dio  
One - Metallica  
Sunrise Sunset - New Years Day  
Powerslave - Iron Maiden**

**Enjoyos!**

* * *

It didn't take Konan long to call Itachi the next morning: at 7:13 AM, the older Uchiha's phone rang, a worried Konan on the other side of the line.

By the time Itachi hung up, a smile crept on his face. He remembered Shikamaru's words the evening before and muttered "That Shikamaru...right as always..." before looking at the time. 8:41. That's gonna be one hell of a phone bill. Ah well. He got up, left a note for the guys that Shikamaru was right (again) and left to 'the Hideout', as Akatsuki called their home. Since it was 70% a natural cave, it kind of fitted. They had spent millions making a liveable place out of it, but it was _so _worth it.

A few hours later, when Sasuke woke up, he found Itachi's note and smirked. Of course Shikamaru was right. He informed Naruto and took out his phone. He punched in Sakura's number and wrote down two more words on a piece of paper he had been carrying around.

"Hey."

"Hey baby. It's me. You busy or anything?"

"No, Why?" Sakura asked.

"I thought about going to this fancy restaurant I spotted yesterday. You know, just usual boyfriend/girlfriend stuff."

"Sure, be here in...umm...30 minutes. I'm going to the mall and I'm taking you with me, whether you like it or not."

Sasuke sighed exeggerative and smirked. "Fine...But I'm not going to pay for you. You've got a platinum album after all."

"Aww, but Sasuke!" Sakura whined playfully. "We need that money for a mansion and a car!"

Sasuke sighed again. "You're going to bankrupt me one day. Let's go."

Sasuke hung up, quickly refreshed himself and jumped in his black Aston Martin DB9. How he loved fast cars...He was about to race off when he noticed something not present. His guitar to be exact. He quickly ran back inside and grabbed his gear before finally driving off.

* * *

After a huge shopping spree by Sakura, she and Sasuke enjoyed a cold drink at some random bar/diner thing. Right now, they were listening to some Slayer on her iPod, and not really paid attention to their surroundings. Sasuke liked the quiet, peaceful atmosphere here. It was like he wasn't a famous rockstar for the time being.

They had tried his song before they left, and Sakura was an unexpected talent at harsh vocals. And even more to his surprise, Hinata was too. Possibly even better than Sakura. Sasuke couldn't tell for sure, since vocal techniques wasn't really one of his expertises, but still. Hinata wasn't really a girl you'd expect to be good at grunting/screaming. Then again, you wouldn't expect Punk Rocker Sakura to have a Sympho Metal voice either.

Speaking of vocalists, Sasuke spotted his blonde best friend singer at the opposite end of the mall. This caught his interest. He muttered "What's the dobe doing here?" before standing up and walking over to him.

"Yo, dobe. What the hell are you doing here of all places?"

Naruto jumped. "What the-? Sasuke!" He glared at the raven-haired guitarist casually leaning to a pole with an arm around Sakura. Both mentioned persons smirked, the confident kind, and Naruto sighed. Busted.

"Alright fine. You win. I was here for Hinata."

He looked up to the couple, and was met by two puzzled looks. He sighed again. "Are you two really that stupid or is it just Sasuke having a bad influence on you? Seriously!"

Realizing what Naruto meant, Sakura squealed. Sasuke did something he rarely did, he smiled, and congratulated Naruto. Hinata _was _the first girl Sasuke ever admitted she was hot after all, but hadn't dare to make a move on her with that crazy overprotective cousin of hers who had to be their drummer and friend. Life sucks sometimes. But everything turned out well, since the cooing girl who hugged Naruto to death right now became his girlfriend and Neji had always had a soft spot for Naruto. The dobe had about a 2500% more chance to survive than himself.

An hour later, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves helping Naruto pick a proper present for Hinata's upcoming birthday. Thanks to Sakura, Naruto knew Hinata had a thing for jewelry, so it was easy decided. Naruto had picked a golden necklace, with a guitar pick pendant. Since the pendant had to be custom made, it could take a while for it to arrive according to the shopkeeper, but Naruto just threw down a couple more dollars and suddenly it would be there in a week. This proved Sasuke's point you could get most things done with a bit of cash in your pockets. Once they left the store, Naruto with a satisfied smile on his face, they went to grab another drink before leaving for Sakura's home to get some jamming done.

* * *

Four Iron Maiden songs, two Metallica bangers, Seven Akatsuki hits and a Slayer track later, Hayashi came running upstairs to keep down the noise a bit. He couldn't even hear himself thinking, he said. Sasuke smirked and ripped Naruto's mic from its stand (under loud complains from our favorite blonde idiot) and threw it to the old rocker before hitting the first chords to Pearl Jam's 'Even Flow' and followed by Dio's 'Holy Diver'. Hayashi left the room smirking after the two tracks, and Sasuke and Sakura decided to leave too since it was 5:58 PM right now. Naruto left for the mansion to try to get 'One' 100% again since he only missed one note last time.

Once in Sasuke's car, Sakura grabbed a CD from Sasuke's pile labeled 'favorites' and stuffed it in the CD player. She was surprised when she heard Ino's guitar riff for their song 'Sunrise Sunset' off Delightful's first album 'Careless'. Sasuke just smirked. Sakura sang along with the song, and three others before Sasuke switched the disc with 'Powerslave' by Iron Maiden. By the time 'Powerslave', the album's title track, was finished, they got out of the car and into the restaurant. Sasuke smirked when he saw the waiter.

"So, Kabuto, a waiter now, huh?" he asked, smirking cockily. The guy named Kabuto just shot him a death glare. Sasuke continued teasing. "I remember you mentioning something about SPZ not standing a chance against Snakefist. What happened to you guys anyway?"

Kabuto glared intensely at the successful rocker and scoffed "None of your business, Uchiha."

"Ooh, did I hit a nerve?" Sasuke sneered. "What happened to you guys anyway? It's been rather quiet since we owned your asses two years ago."

"I said, shut up! It's none of your business! Now give me your orders!"

Sasuke couldn't resist ordering a double portion of kicked Snakefist ass with Strike Point Zero on top, resulting in the guitarist getting a smack from his girlfriend. After they had given their real orders, the couple started cracking up.

"That. Was. So. _Fucking._ Funny!" Sakura exclaimed while desperately trying to control her laugh. "What a dork!"

"Tell me about it!" Sasuke said still gniffling. "Seriously, those guys really, really sucked back in the day. Their singer, Orochimaru, had a voice similar to a car crash. And he couldn't play guitar for shit. Hell, even Neji was better than him, and Neji hadn't even picked up guitar playing yet. And I haven't even started about their drummer Kabuto."

"Was it that bad?" Sakura asked giggling.

"Ha! 'Bad' would actually be too positive to describe it. 'Natural Disaster' would be more accurate. Seriously, the guy couldn't even keep a beat going. He kept hitting stuff on that kit randomly, no particular rhythm whatsoever."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. So when we gave them a run for their money, they were all blaming each other since they considered themselves rock gods and stuff. They broke up soon after, and that's probably the best thing they ever did for Heavy Metal."

Bam. Sasuke was hit from behind by a fist coming from Kabuto. He lost his balance and fell to the floor. Holding his head, the guitarist looked up to his assailant. "Are you out of your fucking mind? What the hell!"

"That's for insulting me, asshole!" Kabuto kicked the still on the ground guitarist in the side. "And that's for making fun of me!"

The waiter gone beserk made another attempt to harm Sasuke, but was met by a foot in his face, courtesy of Uchiha Itachi. While he dropped to the floor losing consciousness, Itachi remarked "And that one's for assaulting my brother, bitch."

He helped Sasuke on his feet, and smirks were exchanged. Sasuke looked at the downed waiter and hit his brother in his shoulder. "Guess all those years of Tae Kwon Do finally pay off, huh bro? Nice work."

A run-in with the chef and a fee for the caused trouble later, Sasuke, Sakura, Itachi and Konan left the restaurant. Sasuke sighed. "So much for the usual boyfriend/girlfriend stuff" he remarked, earning a laugh from the rest.

* * *

**Bhaha, Kabuto's gonna get fired! =P I hate that guy almost as much as I hate Orochimaru. **

**So Naruto's gonna try to impress Hinata. Guess he's not as dense as we thought. Then again, I can make him as dense as I want. =)**

**Next up: Party time (Again)! And Naruto's parents!**

**See ya then! =D**


	16. Chapter 16: Give It All

**A/N Songs:  
Tears Don't Fall - Bullet For My Valentine  
Pride - SOiL  
One Step Closer - Linkin Park  
Closer - Lacuna Coil  
The Evil that Men Do - Iron Maiden****  
Pressure - Paramore**

* * *

Naruto had been a nervous wreck for the past two days, and the rest had just about had enough of it. However, it wasn't that bad that he started to miss notes or pitches. Yet. After the seventh time Shikamaru had ensured Naruto that Hinata was surely going to like his present in an hour, they rolled 'Tears Don't Fall' once more before rehearsing 'Pride'. Tonight would be the first night they were performing the latter, so a rehearsal was needed.

____

When you scream aloud

**Heads down, Heads down  
**_That's when I plan to  
_**Rise up, Rise up**_  
When you scream aloud  
_**We're doomed, We're doomed**_  
That's when I plan to prove myself to you_

I've never gotten the simple thrill of a solo day  
I've never seen the point in you killing you  
I've always backed my words with what I do  
I'll always bite my tongue to comfort you

I'll be my superhero number one  
I'll save me from myself  
I, I rise,  
Above the sun in the sky  
Above that look in your eyes  
My Pride!

Sister you know me  
**Sister you know me**_  
Mother you made me  
Lover what do you offer me  
Brother- _

And that was where Naruto's instrument shrieked in a way that shouldn't even be possible. He dropped his pick and knocked over his mic stand.

"Fuck!" said vocalist cursed. "Fucking song! Why can't I fucking get it right?" He turned to his band mates. "Can't we just play another?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "You were the one to suggest we'd play this one, idiot."

Naruto realized he had, and smiled sheepishly. "I guess. Fine, one more time..."

____

When you scream aloud

**Heads down, Heads down**_  
That's when I plan to  
_**Rise up, Rise up**_  
When you scream aloud  
_**We're doomed, We're doomed**_  
That's when I plan to prove myself to you_

I've never gotten the simple thrill of a solo day  
I've never seen the point in you killing you  
I've always backed my words with what I do  
I'll always bite my tongue to comfort you

I'll be my superhero number one  
I'll save me from myself  
I, I rise,  
Above the sun in the sky  
Above that look in your eyes  
My Pride!

Sister you know me  
**Sister you know me**_  
Mother you made me  
Lover what do you offer me  
Father teach me  
Brother protect  
Lover what do you have for me__I, I rise,  
Above the sun in the sky  
Above that look in your eyes  
My Pride!  
_  
_I'll save you  
I'll save you  
I'll save you_

_Your eyes deny  
A life that dulls your pride  
Your eyes they  
Hide through me you'll heal with time  
_  
_When you scream aloud  
_**Heads down, Heads down**_  
That's when I plan to  
_**Rise up, Rise up**_  
When you scream aloud  
_**We're doomed, We're doomed**_  
That's when I plan to prove myself to you  
_  
_I'll be my superhero number one  
I'll save me from myself  
I'll be your superhero number one  
I'll save you, I'll save you_

I, I rise,  
Above the sun in the sky  
Above that look in your eyes  
My Pride!

I'll be your superhero number one  
I'll save you from yourself  
I'll be my superhero number one  
I'll save me  
**My Pride!**  


I'll be my superhero number one  
I'll save me from myself  
I'll be your superhero number one  
I'll save you, I'll save

Neji threw down his sticks. "Finally! I was beginning to worry that we'd miss Christmas."

"Ha-ha" Naruto replied sending a glare in Neji's direction. Shikamaru phrased his signature catchphrase and Kiba and Sasuke (Yeah, he too) laughed. Naruto huffed and was about to start a fight if Shikamaru didn't play for peacekeeper.

"Just calm down, idiot. Guys, stop it. You're troublesome. Let's continue with whatever it was we were going to play."

"That would be 'One Step Closer', and I don't think that needs rehearsing" Kiba stated. "Which leaves..."

They all looked at each other and realized they had an open spot. Next thing they knew they were arguing which track to perform at tonight's gig. They were going at it so long that Shikamaru remarked they looked like a bunch of chicks. The others had to agree, and Sasuke decided to just throw in a cover. End of discussion.

Shizune came in, handing the boys a few beers which they gladly took. Shizune reminded them once more that they had to be at the place at 6 for soundcheck and stuff. Neji, Kiba and surprisingly, Shikamaru went to play Guitar Hero while Naruto ran off to write some stuff he was going to play for Hinata on her birthday next week.

"Yo, teme! I need your help on a nice catchy riff!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Look, dobe. Is it _me _who wants to impress that girl? No. Use your brains for once and make your own."

"Asshole."

"Hn. Shouldn't you be going? Knowing you, you'll need that week if you actually wanna finish that song."

Naruto glared at the smirking Uchiha, and turned to leave. Sasuke didn't need to know that he had the lyrics down already, and all that he needed was some nice music. He had everything planned out perfectly.

* * *

Neji didn't talk shit when he said his family was huge. There were over 130 people present, and it wouldn't surprise Sasuke if 100 of these were Hyuugas. They all had those eerie pale eyes. Though Sasuke couldn't complain about the music they liked in this family. Sure, old man Hiashi was into old rock like Elvis and Queen, but the majority of the Hyuuga family were younger than 30 years and into Heavy Metal. A lot of fans of Strike Point Zero, too. Sasuke spotted a moving guitar bag and recognized it as Itachi's.

"Ey, bro. Whatcha doing here?"

Itachi looked up and smirked. "Yo, Sasuke. Hinata was so kind to invite us over, too. Well, she invited Konan, which meant the whole band. But you won't hear me complaining. I'm always in for a party."

"Gives me a good opportunity to prank on you again, too" Sasuke replied smirking. Itachi shot him a glare.

"Behave, boys. You're guests here."

Both Sasuke and Itachi looked up to the owner of the familiar voice, both in equal unbelief. How long has it been since they last saw him, seven months? Eight? Itachi smiled.

"Dad!"

"Hey, son. How've you been?" Uchiha Fugaku replied while embracing his oldest son.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.

Fugaku embraced him too before replying "Hiashi and I go way back. We were friends at high school back in the day, and he helped me with a few legal issues I had regarding the company. He said since his daughter is signed to my record company, he'd like me to come over on her birthday for old times' sake."

"That explains a few things" Itachi said. "So how's business been lately?"

"You guys bring in loads of cash. Seriously, I think the profits from Sharingan Records from only this month equal the profits of Uchiha Enterprises from last year."

"That's quite some cash, dad. Nice."

Sasuke was surprised to see his father-in-law talking to old man Hiashi. "Be right back. Ima just talk to my second father."

While Sasuke walked away, Fugaku watched him blinking. "Second...dad? Did I miss something?"

Itachi shrugged. "He's talking about the Haruno family. Little Sasuke's dating their daughter, Sakura."

Fugaku slowly nodded. "Is he now... I'm going to see what old Hayashi has been up to since I last saw him."

Meanwhile, Sasuke had greeted his parents-in-law and was now chatting with them. Once again, his conversation was interrupted by his father.

"So, Hayashi. Long time no see."

Said man looked up and smiled. "Ah, Fugaku! Long time indeed. How's it going?"

"Couldn't be better. I've got nothing to complain. How about you?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Do ALL old people know each other?"

"Pretty much, yes" Hiashi replied. "We went to the same school back in the day, or we met somewhere along the way of life."

"And I'm not complaining about it" another new voice said. Again, the oldies all smiled and Fugaku said "Hey hey, look who's here! Uzumaki Minato and Uzumaki Kushina!"

Now _that _was a _real_ surprise. Uzumaki? The last time they had heard from Naruto's parents is before Strike Point Zero was formed. Then again, that's what you get if your parents are special agents.

"Long time no see, fellas!" Minato exclaimed happily. After a lot of friendly punches in the shoulder and hysterical death hugs, Minato looked around and said "Now where's my son? I still got to talk to him about this whole rock star thing."

Sasuke laughed out loud. "Have you been working under a rock or something the past four years?"

"Well, yeah, practically. The south pole, to be exact. Why?"

Sasuke smirked. "You see, Naruto and I hooked up with Neji Hyuuga and we formed a band called Strike Point Zero. We're the number two hottest band on earth as of now."

As if on cue, 'One Step Closer' started blearing through the speakers that were stationed everywhere. Minato and Kushina both jaw dropped, to the amusement of present adults. Soon, they snapped out of it and started to feel the song, slightly headbanging and all. By the time the next song kicked in, Minato was his old foolish self again and started air guitaring.

"So you're doing good, huh? Nice. Still wanna talk to the kid, though. Now where is he?" Kushina said, ignoring her husband and his crazy habits.

Kiba, who just passed by and stopped to look at the adult version of Naruto making a fool of himself, answered. "Ummm...Yeeaaahh...about Naruto...he's kinda...gone."

"...Gone?"

"As in 'vanished in thin air' gone. Dude's disappreared yesterday, saying something about meeting us here, and we haven't heard of him since."

"And his cell?"

"Shut down."

"Is there _any _way we can contact him?" Kushina said desperately. Kiba shook his head. "Damn."

"Guess we just have to wait for the idiot showing up then."

* * *

An hour of just fooling off and having fun passed, and Delightful was about to start a gig on the balcony of the Hyuuga mansion. Sakura, Ino and Temari tuned their instruments, while several Hyuuga people were having trouble getting Hinata's piano there. Tenten's drum kit was being set up by a few other Hyuuga people. Soon they were all set, starting off with their new song 'Closer'.

_I Want to get closer, in too deep  
Where there is something I wish for I'll go through  
Want to get closer into you  
No hell to discover  
I've got it all inside myself  
Salvation you have preached is gone  
No way you can turn it around_

_Looking for a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Searching for this something missed before  
_**Searching for more**  
_From a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Will I fall in the right direction?  
_**Searching for more**

_Falling apart  
There's nothing real  
That will convince me to change but I'll go through  
Want to get closer into you  
No hell to discover  
There is just nothing to betray  
Salvation you have preached is gone  
No way you can turn it around_

___Looking for a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Searching for this something missed before  
_**Searching for more**  
_From a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Will I fall in the right direction?  
_**Searching for more**

___Looking for a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Searching for this something missed before  
_**Searching for more**  
_From a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Will I fall in the right direction?  
_**Searching for more**

_Looking for a higher ground  
Searching for this something missed before  
From a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Will I fall in the right direction?  
_**Searching for more**

___Looking for a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Searching for this something missed before  
_**Searching for more**  
_From a higher ground  
_**Higher**  
_Will I fall down into your arms?  
_**Searching for more**

A flood of applause came from the crowd. Sakura and Ino smirked and started Iron Maiden's 'The Evil That Men Do', a classic. Sasuke had to admit that his girlfriend was getting damn good at guitar playing. He looked to his left and sweatdropped. Minato was on the air guitar again, this time with his own dad on air drums. He suddenly realized he _had _to get a picture of this, for blackmailing purposes. Neji had beaten him to it though, and handed him the memory card with a smirk.

"Thanks, Hyuuga. This is going to be _soooo _good."

Delightful played a few more songs, including the crowd's favorite 'Pressure' (which was, in his opinion, by far their best song ever) and left the stage. People started scattering, returning to their chattering and drinks. They didn't know a thing, and that was just the way the just arrived guest liked it.

* * *

He cursed. Why didn't this place have a map? 'This ain't no house any more, it's a freaking maze!' He turned around and sweatdropped. The stairs were right behind him all the time. He shrugged and ran up. Second problem: Where the hell was that balcony?

Several minutes of frantically running around, he found it and sighed in relief. He took his guitar bag from his back and unpacked his instrument. What? Nervous? Hell yeah he was nervous! He was going to confess his love for the birthday girl in front of her whole family. Suddenly, he found he looked like a complete idiot.

"Man, I'm making a fool out of myself...ah well. Not much of a reputation I have to crush anyway. Here goes..."

He stepped up to the balcony, his guitar strapped over his left shoulder. He connected it and jammed a few chords, drawing the attention of the guests. He walked over to the mic and tested it.

"Is this thing on? Guess so...uhh...yeah...Good afternoon people. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'd like to play you guys a song I wrote. This one is for Hinata Hyuuga."

* * *

**Evil cliffhanger! Muhahaha! I had a particularly hard time writing this chap. Dunno why. Must be a party overload, since I freaking PASSED my exams! WOOT!!**

**Ever since I played 'Closer' on GHIII I have been listening to it too much for my own good. It's scary how good that song actually is. Same goes for 'The Evil that Men Do'. Fans of heavy metal should already have that in their favorites list, other people should give it a try. Be sure to check out the cover by After Forever while you're at it. **

**I'm finally getting my drums for Guitar Hero in a few days, and I'm happy. Drum achievements here I come! XD**

**Next up: NaruHina-ness and ShikaTema-ness. And some random stuff. **

**~LazyNinja**


	17. Chapter 17: Forever and Always

**A/N Songs:  
****I can Wait Forever - Simple Plan  
****Hellrider - Judas Priest**

**(That's it? Just two? Sigh...) Don't own them as always.**

* * *

Naruto grabbed a stool from somewhere, adjusted the mic to the correct height and closed his eyes as he started picking the first notes to his own song. People were astounded. What happened to the hyperactive, dense-as-a-rock Strike Point Zero vocalist? This guy was a freaking pro at playing ballads.

_You look so beautiful today  
When you're sitting there it's hard for me to look away  
So I try to find the words that I could say  
I know distance doesn't matter but you feel so far away  
And I can't lie  
Everytime I leave my heart turns grey  
And I wanna come back home to see your face tonight  
'Cause I just can't take it_

_Another day without you with me is like a blade that cuts right through me  
But I can wait, I can wait forever  
When you call my heart stops beating, when you're gone it won't stop bleeding  
But I can wait, I can wait forever_

_You look so beautiful today  
It's like everytime I turn around I see you face  
The thing I miss the most is waking up next to you  
When I look into your eyes I wish that I could stay  
And I can't lie, but everytime I leave my heart turns grey  
And I wanna come back home to see your face tonight  
'Cause I just can't take it_

_Another day without you with me is like a blade that cuts right through me  
But I can wait, I can wait forever  
When you call my heart stops beating, when you're gone it won't stop bleeding  
But I can wait, I can wait forever_

_I know it feels like forever, I guess thats just the price I've got to pay  
But when I come back home to feel your touch, makes it better  
'Till that day, theres nothing else that I can do  
And I just can't take it, I just can't take it_

_Another day without you with me is like a blade that cuts right through me  
But I can wait, I can wait forever  
When you call my heart stops beating, when you're gone it won't stop bleeding  
But I can wait, I can wait forever_

_I can wait forever  
I can wait forever  
I can wait forever  
I can wait forever  
I can wait forever_

Silence. Naruto had completely blown everyone away. It remained silent for a few more seconds before a standing ovation was made. He looked up at the crowd and saw Hinata stand in front, still completely flabbergasted. He motioned her to get up to the balcony smiling, and she rushed upstairs.

He grabbed his bag again and took out a small present. "Happy birthday, Hinata."

She took the present with a shaking hand, and opened it. She squealed and hugged him once she saw the necklace, earning a wave of 'awww's from the crowd. She released him and he grabbed the mic again.

"Alright people" Naruto said. "Please shut the hell up for a moment." He turned to Hinata. "Hinata...I...how shall I put it...I think you're a great person and a great friend. But recently...I started to like you as more than just a friend. Hinata...I...I love you, dammit!"

Hinata, who had been close to fainting the entire time, now fainted for real. Naruto smiled touched, catched her and lifted her bridal style before walking off to find the nearest bed.

* * *

Minato's jaw dropped almost a foot. _That _was Naruto, his dense, worst-ADD-case-ever son? He shook his head.

"Impossible."

Sasuke stared at the empty stage too. No way. Naruto could't have come up with such a great song and perform it so well. He was...well, Naruto. He looked at Kushina. "Did Naruto have a twin brother you didn't tell us about?"

"Not that I know of, that's for sure..." was her reply. "Naruto sure has matured, huh?"

Sasuke looked at her. "Yeah right! This is a first, I assure you. Last week that kid was still sliding down railings and pouting becuase he didn't get food!"

Silence fell between Sasuke and the adults, and they turned back to the balcony where Hyuuga people were starting to break up Tenten's kit and the sound installation, all with the same surprise on their faces. Sasuke shook his head and went to find Itachi, and thus find his beer, which the older Uchiha had stolen from him. Again.

* * *

Her eyes slowly opened. She glanced around and realized she was on a bed. It was Hanabi's, so she assumed the person who brought her here does not know the layout of her home. Conclusion: one of the guys. She jerked up, remembered Naruto's confession and turned beet red. He had really said it. He _loved _her. A soft moan came from her left and she looked up to find said vocalist/guitarist sleeping in a chair. She smiled. He was really cute like this.

"Hey, Naruto. Wake up, silly."

He shot up. "What? I'm awake, I'm awake! I-oh, hey Hinata."

Before he knew it, he was pulled in a bone-crushing hug. Slightly taken aback, he returned it and smiled. At least she didn't hate him now. They broke apart and looked at each other for a while.

"Naruto..."

"What up?"

"Thank you. You just saved me a lot of trouble."

"Eh?" He raised an eyebrow, visibly not understanding. She smiled.

"You saved me the trouble of telling you how much I like you."

Naruto blinked. "Alright, now you're kidding me. You like me back?"

From her happy "mmhmm" and smiling face, Naruto could but concluse she was indeed, dead serious. "...Wow." He pulled himslef together and smiled. "Great. Saves the both of us lots of talking and stuff."

They looked at each other, the silence between them getting a bit awkward. He chuckled nervously. "Guess this is the part where we kiss, huh?"

"Guess so..."

"So..."

"..."

Naruto shook his head. "Aw, to hell with it. Come here, you" he said as he pulled her in for the most amazing kiss the both of them has ever had.

After what seemed like ages, they broke apart, smiles on their faces. She picked herself up from his lap and said "C'mon, we have a party to go to. _My _party, actually." He smirked and followed her out the door, wrapping an arm around her as they walked outside.

* * *

Sasuke spotted his best friend coming out of the house, his arm around Hinata's shoulder. Said blonde vocalist spotted him too, and they exchanged smirks. Naruto mouthed something like 'mission accomplished' before being pulled out of sight, probably by Hiashi or Neji. Sasuke's smirk broadened.

'Time to meet her family, dobe. We all had to go through it. Good luck.'

By the time Naruto returned (About an hour later) with Hinata clinging to his arm, Sasuke was sparring with his brother. Itachi had a black band in Tae Kwon Do after all, and Sasuke was soon to get his black band in Karate and Kendo. They're rock stars after all, and rock stars tend to be a wanted target for kidnappers and stalkers. They'd like to defend themselves, thank you very much.

"What's up, fellas? Sorry I'm late; I had to make a few necessary preparations for the little stunt I pulled just now."

Sasuke blocked a high kick from Itachi and timed out, turning to Naruto. A smirk started playing on his lips, and the blonde returned it.

"So this is a final goodbye to your freedom, eh dobe? Welcome to the club."

"Guess so, teme. But if you can handle it, I surely can."

Sasuke smirked and caught a glimpse of Minato's hair. "Oh yeah, dobe. There's some people who wanna talk to you."

Naruto sighed. "If it's some fans, tell 'em to stop by the mansion later. I wanna relax at my girlfriend's party today."

"It's your parents."

"...Fuck you. That's not funny."

"For real."

"No shit?"

"No shit, idiot. Now get your ass going." He nodded to Hinata. "Bring her along too, I'm pretty sure they want to meet their daughter-in-law."

So off the new couple went, Naruto to see his parents for the first time in four years and Hinata to meet said parents. Pretty soon, Naruto spotted a mop of hair that looked exactly like his own and he smacked it. When the owner of the hair looked up, Naruto smiled. He was pulled into a bone-crushing embrace soon after.

"Hello, dad."

"Hi, son. How've you been?"

"Great. The band made it big, we're off the record-selling charts, and I found myself the best girl ever just now. As you probably already know."

Minato exchanged meaningful looks with his son. "Sorry I wasn't there to support you, son. Your mom and I are seriously thinking about resigning and just lay low. By the way, who is the lovely young lady anyway?"

Hinata smiled. "My name is Hinata Hyuuga, mr. Uzumaki. I'm sure you know my father, the lawyer Hiashi Hyuuga. I play keys in a band called Delightful, and we're nominated for the 'Best Newcomer' Grammy."

"Damn, you kids sure have talent, huh?" Minato exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't ever call me 'mr.' again, by the way. Makes me feel old."

"Guess what? You are" Kushina said while walking up to them, crush-hugging Naruto and kissing him on the cheek before handing him and his father a beer. She smiled to Hinata. "Hello, Hinata. I'm Kushina. Me and Minato are special agents, which is why you haven't ever seen us before."

"Nice to meet you, mrs. Kushina" Hinata said, politely bowing. Kushina and Minato laughed.

"Hiashi, you old-fasioned geezer..." Minato chuckled. "At least he doesn't fail at being a parent like us. He managed to actually properly raise his kid."

Naruto twitched. "And what are you implying, old man? That I'm some bum who just hangs around all day?"

"Basically, yes. From what I heard from your Uchiha pal, I'm not far off."

Minato's comment earned a laugh from both females, and a glare from Naruto. Minato just smirked. "Just kidding, son. You _know _I'm proud of whatever you've achieved."

A new song kicked in, instantly recognized as 'Hellrider' by most people, and Naruto sweatdropped as Minato started air guitaring again. He was doing it horribly wrong. He watched in embarrassment a few moments longer before pushing his dad over. "You're doing it all wrong! What the hell is with your chords, dude? Are you some kind of guitar hero that can play chords on one string? You could at least_ try _to show you can actually play guitar."

Minato stared at his son, flabbergasted. What the hell? He, _Minato Uzumaki_, Self-proclaimed air guitar hero, was being owned by a sixteen-year old brat?

_No way_.

"Naruto Jiraiya Uzumaki, did you just challenge me to a guitar duel?"

Naruto smirked. "No, you just did, dumbass. Get yourself a guitar, dad. Let's fire up this party."

* * *

**Uzumakis...It must be the genes. But Hinata probably got herself the coolest parents-in-law ever. I'm sorry, I promised you ShikaTema-ness, but that has to wait till next chap. I couldn't get it in here to save my life. Sowwy!**

**Disturbed. Latest album 'Indestructible'. WHY didn't I get that one sooner!? It's awesome, as in AWESOME! 'Perfect Insanity', 'The Curse' and 'Inside the Fire' are ranking high on my personal favorites list atm. **

**Alright, so I hereby promise the next chapter will include ShikaTema. If it doesn't, I'll hand over all the rights of this story to the first one that reviews this chap. For real.**

**~LazyNinja**


	18. Chapter 18: You Know You're Right

**A/N Songs:  
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - Metallica  
Do it Or Die - Die Mannequin**

**Don't own.**

* * *

Sasuke twitched. His father was up on the balcony drumming for Hiashi on bass, Minato on guitar and Hayashi on vocals..._why_? And the biggest shock: he didn't even suck at it. For an old man, he was doing pretty well.

Hiashi and Hayashi were doing okay too, but the real surprise was Minato. Normally, people get worse at stuff when they grew older. Apparently, that didn't apply to guitar playing. If it wasn't for the equipment, he would've mistaken him for Naruto. The dude was shredding. Same went for the younger Uzumaki. They were playing 'Sanitarium' by Metallica, and it sounded neat. Impressive even, considering it was a bunch of oldies onstage save for Naruto.

After the little show, Sasuke lost track of the activities of the others. He hung out with his girlfriend before they went to some club with the rest of the youngsters to start the _real _party.

* * *

Neji smirked as he devoured another shot of vodka. He had started a drinking contest with Naruto, Kiba, Sakura, Ino and Tenten some time ago, and from the looks of it, he was winning. Kiba already dropped out after the fifth round (wuss), and Naruto and Ino called it quits by the ninth shot. Leaves Sakura, Tenten and him. Sakura looked like she was passing out any moment now, and Tenten just looked at him smirking.

"You know, I've never been beat in a drinking contest before. You're the first one to make it this far," she said teasing. He smirked again.

"I take that as a compliment?"

"Yup. We're the alcohol-proof ones of the gang."

He smirked. "You have seen nothing yet, baby. You've never seen a drinking contest in Akatsuki. Those guys are scary. I think the first drop-out was around the twentieth round. And they just kept going after that. Those guys are really insane."

The two of them were surprised to hear actual band play kicking in, both because they recognized the band members and because they knew the song. Tenten looked to him. "Neji, why is Akatsuki up there playing our song again?"

"Dunno, go ask them."

"Nah, I'm too comfortable" she said, complete with innocent smile. Neji sighed smirking.

A minute later, Tenten got hit by an idea. "Neji, let's play the game."

Said boy looked up. "Game? What game?"

"You'll find out."

Next thing he knew, Neji was pinned to a wall (how he had been pinned to a wall by a tiny girl such as Tenten, he will never know. Must be the alcohol) and was cautiously looking at her smirking evilly. "Alright, Neji Hyuuga. You don't know it yet, but I love you. A _lot._ And you just won the privilege of making out with me."

He gave her a strange look. "Tenten, you're weird. Let me go."

"Like the song says, Neji-kun. Do it or _die_."

* * *

Shikamaru wrapped an arm around Temari as both watched Neji and Tenten make out. The two face-suckers were completely wasted, but Shikamaru doubted they'd regret it later. Temari nudged him and nodded to the door. He sighed, got up, and followed her outside.

They walked around town in silence, enjoying each other's company. When they reached the park, Shikamaru laid down in the grass and engaged in a session of star-gazing. Temari smiled and laid down next to him, snuggling in his chest.

They remained like that for some time, before she removed herself from her comfortable position to look up at him.

"Shika?"

"Hn?"

"I love you."

He ripped his eyes from the sky and returned her look. "I know. I love you too, but you also know that. So what's the point of saying it?"

She sighed amused. "You really are too lazy for your own good, Shika."

"You love me for it."

She hated to admit, but he was right. Not only was he lazy, he was also too smart to be possible. Any given argument with him was therefore certainly lost.

Not that they argued that much. Of course not. Note the sarcasm.

The point is that their arguments weren't offensive, more like teasing. She'd complain about him being too lazy if she wanted something done, he'd reply with 'troublesome', and in the end, Shikamaru would win with a minute-long reason of why exactly he was better off just remaining the way he was. In reality, this usually meant lying down, be it on a couch, bed, anywhere.

"Temari, anything wrong?" Shikamaru's voice broke her from her thoughts.

"No, why?"

"You were too silent. That only happens when something bad has happened."

Did she mention he was observant as hell, too?

She sighed. "You have met my brother, Gaara, right?"

Shikamaru frowned. "Gaara's the Death Metal addict, am I right?" She nodded. "What about him?"

"He'd got himself into a bunch of trouble again. But this time, I fear he might end up really bad."

"I'm gonna need details if I wanna find the solution."

She looked at the sky. "Gaara thought it'd be fun if he joined a gang. He got a bit carried away, and ended up in the middle of a war. He got shot, and he's in the hospital now."

"That's just horrible. How's he doing?"

"His condition's stable. He'll live. But then, because Gaara was so stupid to actively take part in the shootout and shot one of the higher-ups of his enemy, they've put him on the black list. Once they get a hold of him, they'll surely want revenge."

Shikamaru didn't reply. Temari smiled; that was a good sign. His brain was processing everything, and in a minute, she'd have her answer. A living computer, not to mention good-looking. What more could a girl want?

Indeed, before long, Shikamaru's gaze fixed. "Alright, I got it."

She jerked up. "Great, let's hear it."

A smirk formed on his lips. "Gimme a kiss first."

She shot him a glare. "You're toying with both your own life and my brother's right now, you _do _realize that, don't you?"

He didn't reply, so she sighed, and gave in to his demand. When they broke apart several minutes later because of a lack of oxygen, they both smirked.

"Here's what your brother has to do. As soon as he recovers, he disappears. I figured that the whole gang scene is a bunch of gangsta crap, so I guess he must have...altered his appearance to get in. Now he just has to go back to his old Death Metal stuff. No-one of those ganstas will recognize him, so he's out of the danger zone for good."

"How do you think up that stuff so quickly? Seriously, it's creepy."

"Well, I have to give credit to a guy named Niccolo Machiavelli for this one. He once wrote in one of his books, 'The Art of War', that the best way to escape your enemies is faking your own death. I happen to have read that and I just remembered."

Temari fell silent. "...Shika, I love you. Thanks!"

"Anytime, darling."

"..."

Temari blinked. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"You just called me a sweet nickname."

"Your point?"

"You _never _do that."

"I guess I should do that more often then, to make up for the loss."

Shikamaru was only able to brace himself for impact as Temari glomped him squealing. This was going to be a _long _night.

* * *

**A/N Told ya so! As promised, ShikaTema! ANd some NejiTen, too. I really didn't plan on that. But it opens up a lot of ways to move the plot along. Expect the aftermath of that little make-out session next chap. Hopefully with some more music, too. For everyone who didn't already know: Music = Life. **

**Next up: NejiTen of course, and Kiba. Not gonna tell what about him.**

**~LazyNinja**


	19. Chapter 19: Sad But True

**A/N Songs:  
****Kirisute Gomen - Trivium  
Guarded - Disturbed  
****Pride - SOiL  
****Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold**

**Still don't own.**

* * *

Tenten groaned. She was about to wake up from a very nice and comfortable sleep, and she didn't want to. Her eyes creaked open, she yawned and snuggled back into her pillow. The slow rise and fall of it almost lulled her back to sleep when she realized something.

Pillows weren't supposed to breathe.

She tried to get up, but was held back by a strong arm around her waist. It belonged to none other than Hyuuga Neji.

"...oh my god." She freaked. "NEJI!!"

Said drummer jerked up, waking up with a sound that held a middle between a yell and a groan.

"What's wrong?"

She slapped him across the face for good measure, to 'wake him up'. It visibly helped. "What are _you _doing in _my _bed?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's what I was trying to figure out."

They were silent for a moment, until Neji's eyes widened. "Tenten...you don't think..."

Now her eyes widened too. "...Oh my god, no!"

"Hate to break it to you guys, but you looked like you enjoyed sucking face last night." Sasuke said from the doorway, a cocky smirk on his lips. Neji shot him a death glare and Tenten threw one of Neji's pillows at him. Sasuke just laughed, ducked and walked away. Tenten returned the horrified look Neji was giving her.

"Uhh...I guess we were drunk?"

She nodded blankly. "Yeah...we were drunk. Works for me."

Inside her head, Tenten fumed. 'Why the _fuck_ don't I remember a thing? Why me? One of the few chances I get and I forget all of it!'

She broke from her thoughts and noticed Neji blushing furiously, trying to look away. She realized she wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Oh lord."

And thus, Tenten's frantic search of anything wearable began.

* * *

It was hot outside, she noticed, while she was sitting on the balcony. She was gazing at the sky, trying to get a grip in the current situation. Neji and her had kissed alright: everyone was teasing them about it. The weird thing was that everyone remembered except the two of them. Did they not _want _to remember?

She trried to recall the feeling of his lips on hers, his hands keeping her body close to his, his tongue invading and dominating hers, the feeling of his breath on her neck...

She jumped when she heard the door behind her close. She jerked her head in the direction of ssaid door, and was met by Neji's pearl eyes boring into her.

_Oh god, why him?_

He blushed. "Oh. Uh...I'll leave you alone for a while..." He turned around to leave again when she got a grip and returned to her old determined self.

"No. Come here. About time we got this over with."

He blinked, smirked and obliged. He sat down next to her and joined her in watching the sky. "So..."

She broke the ice. "So let's face it. We were making out last night."

"I guess."

"That's all you have to say?"

"Well...yeah."

"Just...forget about it?"

"Seems like the best thing to do." He narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to say, Tenten?"

She bit her lip to hold in a scream, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Focus...Okay." She took another deep breath. "ARE YOU STUPID OR WHAT!?"

Taken aback by her screaming, Neji winced. "What the hell?"

She rolled her eyes. "Are you blind or what? How obvious do I have to make it? I love you, dammit! I hate the fact I don't remember anything about last night, and I hate you for not noticing I love you!!"

He smirked and suddenly kissed her. When they broke apart, she stared at him. He smirked.

You could've just said, you know. No need to make such a big fuss of it."

Their laughter filled the hot afternoon atmosphere for a long time, and everyone inside and around the house knew things ended up just like they had expected between the two of them.

He looked at the girl in his arms. "Tenten, I'll let you in on a small secret."

She looked up. "Eh?"

"Last night...I haven't been entirely honest about that to you."

"...WHAT!?"

"I remember everything perfectly. Every single word you said to me. Everything."

"Then...why?" She shook her head. "Why'd you act like you forgot all about it?"

He looked down. "Because I was too stupid to notice your feelings. Your _true _feelings. I thought you'd hate me for it."

She giggled. "That just proves your point. You definetely _are _stupid."

Neji smirked. "You love me for it."

"Sad but true, sweetheart. Sad but true." She snuggled into his shoulder. "At least everything turned out the way I hoped it would."

* * *

"You lost again, Inuzuka."

Said bassist looked up. "Eh? Whaddya mean?"

Sasuke smirked. "You're last again."

"Still not following you. Last with what?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "To think you have the guts to call me an idiot. Think this over: what do we all have that you don't?"

Kiba pondered and pondered, but couldn't come up with anything until it hit him. He sweatdropped. "Not funny, guys." The others laughed at him. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Let's just keep playing, okay? You guys keep failing at 'Kirisute Gomen' and 'Guarded', and I wanna roll 'Pride' just in case Naruto goes all nervo on us again."

"Dude! I'm fine!" Naruto exclaimed. "Besides, we've been playing for what, four hours now? Give us a break!"

"Dude's right, Kiba. My kit's starting to fall apart" Neji stated matter-of-factly, and as if on cue his hi-hats dropped to the floor that exact moment. Kiba sighed.

"Fine, go do whatever you want. I'll be writing."

Silence. The irritated bassist looked up. "What?"

"Writing? _You_?" Neji and Naruto exclaimed in unison.

Kiba shrugged. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Didn't you hate writing?"

"Didn't I write that 'Almost Easy' track on Dead Memories that's annihilating the charts right now? A guy can still change his mind about things, I hope? I happen to have found some inspiration lately. Don't worry, I won't pull an Uzumaki on you guys."

Naruto shot the bassist a glare. "And what's that supposed to mean?" Kiba smirked.

"That means that I'll actually let you know when I think I wrote something decent, not just work it out on my own and have the rest follow when it's done."

Shikamaru drew a deep breath. "Guys. Shut the _fuck _up. Seriously, I'm developing a major headache because of this troublesome argument, and I hate headaches. If you value your life, stop _right this instant._"

That shut the two bickering teens up, and they left the practice room. Neji informed Izumo of the critical state of his kit, Shikamaru went to get some painkillers, Naruto was heard slamming the front door to go for a drive, and Sasuke turned on his computer and tried to get a hold of the incoming fanmail. Kiba sighed. Peace had returned to the SPZ mansion. For now.

* * *

**A/N MY XBOX IS DEAD. DAMMIT. It's still two weeks at least until I get it back... I wanna play Guitar Heroooo... T.T**

**Alright, had my moment of total nolife-ness. I dunno, I kinda forgot about writing this stuff. Sorry if I made you wait. I'll be more careful from now on. And I'm seriously thinking about changing the title. I'll put up a poll on my profile so you guys can decide. **

**Next up: New songs and a fateful meeting? **

**Rock on!**

**P.S. Sara, if you read this (and I know you do), get your ass on MSN like ASAP. I really wanna talk to you.**


	20. Chapter 20: A Place For My Head

**A/N Songs:  
****The Curse - Disturbed  
****Somewhere I belong - Linkin Park  
****Dark Side - Crucified Barbara  
****Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses**

**No. Just no.**

**

* * *

**

Kiba calmed himself down, dropped on his bed and grabbed his notebook and a pen. The song he was working on wasn't much yet, barely two lines actually, but he felt good writing it. He even tried to get a riff done before, but didn't get far with three chords. Oh well. That was Sasuke's thing after all. An hour later, and Kiba looked at his notebook with satisfaction. Yup, the guys were going to love this. He walked over to the living room and kinda dragged Sasuke and Neji to the practice room.

"Alright fellas. Here's what I came up with. It's far from done, and I'll probably take some time finishing it, but still. Tell me what you think about it."

_Marked for demolition, I'm  
Just a time bomb, ticking inside  
No hope for the hopeless,  
I can see the pieces all laid out in front of me  
No point even asking why,  
Couldn't help even if you tried.  
Step aside or you might just be the next contestant to feel the brutality_

_I've held on too long, just to let it go now  
Will my inner strength get me through it somehow?  
Defying the curse that has taken hold,  
Never surrender, I'll never be overcome_

Sasuke and Neji nodded subconsciously, silently acknowledging Kiba's unexpected creativity. Neji looked at the bassist. "Nice work, Inuzuka. Quite unexpected, considering it's you who wrote it. If I didn't know better, I'd take it for an Uchiha."

Sasuke snorted. "Not quite, Hyuuga. I feel like there's something...missing. Something like a bridge. This part-" He grabbed a pen from somewhere and drew a circle around four lines, "-kinda feel chorus-ish. I think you need something in between. Work on it and finish it. I'll work on a few riffs."

Kiba smirked. "I was about to ask you that. Fast as always." He sighed and stretched. "I'll have a look at that bridge idea later. Right now, I need a nap."

"You start to sound like Nara."

"What's it with you two and calling people by their family names?" Kiba exclaimed. "We happen to have given names too, you know."

"Nara's first name is twice as long as his last." Neji said deadpan. Kiba sighed.

"Whatever. I'm off."

* * *

Kiba smirked. He was proud of his creation. Damn right, it took him all night to come up with it. Though this showed Sasuke really was the most experienced songwriter. Only experience could see this bridge was missing in an instant. He rewrote the song up until now, and had a look at it.

_Marked for demolition, I'm  
Just a time bomb, ticking inside  
No hope for the hopeless,  
I can see the pieces all laid out in front of me  
No point even asking why,  
Couldn't help even if you tried.  
Step aside or you might just be the next contestant to feel the brutality_

_  
Devastation! Obliteration!  
All to the point of exacerbation,  
There's no explaining my situation,  
Now, why does this shit keep happening to me?_

_I've held on too long, just to let it go now  
Will my inner strength get me through it somehow?  
Defying the curse that has taken hold,  
Never surrender, I'll never be overcome_

He fel asleep happily, knowing he had proved everyone wrong. He just hoped it impressed a certain girl too.

* * *

Four hours later, Kiba woke up to the rest of the guys jamming. Kakashi had filled in for him on bass, and they were rolling the old 'Somewhere I Belong' from their second album. The good old days...Kiba grabbed his iPod and called Akamaru. Walking the dog was something he just felt like doing now. He made sure he had his notebook too, before leaving.

He sat down on a random bench along the way and released Akamaru. The dog began running around, hyperactive as ever, and Kiba smiled. He looked to the sky, and the color reminded him of _her _eyes. 'Somehow, he drew inspiration from it and began writing again.

_Too dark for forgiveness, I  
Can't seem to do anything right  
When I try to rebuild I see,  
My humble shelter just fall to the ground again  
Object of an evil eye,  
No point to let anyone try  
__Take heed, my friend,  
Lest you be torn asunder like all that's become of me_

_Decimation! Disintegration!  
Now beyond the point of imagination  
No explaining my situation,  
Why does this shit keep happening to me?_

_I've held on too long, just to let it go now  
Will my inner strength get me through it somehow?  
Defying the curse that has taken hold,  
Never surrender, I'll never be overcome_

_I've held on too long, just to let it go now  
Will my inner strength get me through it somehow?  
Defying the curse that has taken hold,  
Never surrender, I'll never be overcome_

_I've held on too long, just to let it go now  
Will my inner strength get me through it somehow?  
Defying the curse that has taken hold,  
Never surrender,_

**_I'll never be overcome!_**

He looked up when he heard an acoustic guitar and a female voice singing an unknown song. He recognized the voice. He smirked, stood up and walked over to the source of the music. He leaned against a tree behind the girl jamming and listened for a while.

_Feel my desire  
__I have a dark side  
And I let it out when you're not around  
__Oh, maybe I could kill her myself  
__And now I'll hunt you  
__'Til you're down on the ground_

_Open up the gates,  
__Come out and play!_

_Time to run,  
__My dark side is coming for you  
Tonight I can smell your fear  
__You better run,  
__My dark side is coming for you  
__Come on and let me catch you..._

_Let me catch you..._

She kept playing, oblivious to the fact that there was someone behind her. Kiba was amazed by her awesome voice. Sure, Sakura could sing, and Temari could, but her? His thoughts were interrupted by Akamaru barking, thus blowing his cover. She jerked up.

"What the fuck are you doing here!?"

"Chill out. Could be asking you the same" he casually retorted, sitting down next to her. She glared at him.

"Obviously, I'm busy creating a song here. And you're spying on me."

He chuckled. "You're one to talk. Remember the day we met? Kakashi caught you spying on us the second we started jamming. I bet you can even tell me the song we were playing."

She fake-glared at him. "Shut up. That was when you were still the oh-so-awesome-and-godly-SPZ-guys. Now you're just the guys. Things have changed, and you have no right to be eavesdropping any more!" She looked away. "The song you played first was 'Sweet Child O' Mine', by the way."

Kiba sighed Shikamaru-style and scratched the back of his head. "Women...I'll never understand them..."

"Damn straight. Now what were you doing here?"

He tossed his notebook to her. "That. Finishing this song and thinking."

"Thinking? _You_?"

"Hey, cut me some slack! I'm not Naruto! I happen to have a brain _and_ use it frequently."

"Given. So what's the problem?"

"Who said anything about a problem?" Kiba said surprised. Did she see right through him? What was she, some kind on ninja with brain control skills? "I'm perfectly fine."

"Oh come on!" she exclaimed and raised his notebook. "People like you don't write this stuff just because. This is personal."

He sighed. Alright, his own fault. "Fine. I'm in deep shit."

"Explain, maybe I can help" she said as she patted the exhausted dog. "Dr. Yamanaka's here to take your problems away."

He smirked. "Alright, doctor. Get your notebook ready. This is gonna be perfect inspiration for a song or two." He took a deep breath. "So it started about a week ago. There was this girl I've known for quite some time now, but when I saw her with someone else, I just...I dunno, I wanted to kill the guy. I realized later that I freaking fell for her, and I hated it because I knew I could never get her."

"Understandable. So who is it?" Ino asked, genuinely interested. Kiba looked away, a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I swear I won't laugh or call you a freak."

Kiba gulped. "Okay...It's Hinata."

* * *

**A/N Cliffhanger! I'm so evil... xD So Kiba's got his eyes on the Dobe's girlfriend, Ino's the only one that knows and another new song is revealed on Delightful's new album! Stay tuned for more!**

**Oh yeah, for the ones with photographic minds among us, I once said I'd throw in another of those contest thingies. Well, feel free to PM me the chapter titles and the respective artists for another preview. **

**~LazyNinja**


	21. Chapter 21: Welcome To the Jungle

**A/N Songs:  
****Stricken - Disturbed  
****Jesus Saves - Slayer  
****Consign to Oblivion - Epica**

**Warning: LOTS of nerd talk later in the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: No.**

* * *

_Recap:_

_"Understandable. So who is it?" Ino asked, genuinely interested. Kiba looked away, a hint of a blush on his cheeks. _

_"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."_

_"I swear I won't laugh or call you a freak."_

_Kiba gulped. "Okay...It's Hinata."_

"...O-kay, that really _is _kinda fucked up" Ino said truthfully. Kiba sighed, and buried his face in his palms.

"I know. I just...I dunno, for fuck's sake!" He grabbed a rock and threw it at nothing in particular, out of pure frustration. "Hell, I don't even know why I like her! And I can't steal one of my best firends' girlfriend either! I just don't know what to do anymore!"

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Look, I'm not going to lie to you. You shouldn't get your hopes up. Hinata's just not that kind of girl. But there's plenty of girls around. Surely there's one with the magic spark who'll like you back."

He looked at her angered. "No shit. I'm a rock star. I'll just have to wink and girls throw themselves at me. Small detail: they just love me for who I sell, not for who I am. And when I look at Sasuke and Sakura for example, I mean, they're perfect. When I met Hinata, and I mean really got to talk to her-"

"Exactly when was that?"

"Umm...Let's see...I think that was after our last gig on 'Memorial Tour', you know, the one in Japan? We hung out afterwards, in one of those creepy karaoke bars. I think you and Naruto were too busy battling Sasuke and Sakura to mind us, but we got talking about all kinds of stuff. I felt...different...about her afterwards. Then Naruto pulled his little stunt, and I've been feeling emo since."

"Does that explain why Naruto was ranting on about how he couldn't figure you out to Hinata before I left?"

"I guess."

Both of them looked at the lake in front of them, in thought about Kiba's problem. Ino's guitar and Akamaru laid in the grass, both completely forgotten. A minute of silence later, Ino hesistanly said "...Maybe you just have to...look better, you know? There really are a few girls around that like you like that." She took a breath.

"There's one talking to you right now, in fact."

Kiba looked at her deadpanned, as his brain processed her words. "...Shit, Ino. You can't be serious."

She shrugged. "Can't help it. I'm a sucker for guys with a bad guy-look, but are really sweet when you get to know them. You happen to fit that description."

Kiba fidgeted. "Uhh...I...can't really say it was love on first sight or something, but I wanna give you a chance. I owe you one for hearing me out. Wanna hang out sometime?"

"Yeah, sure." She smirked evil-ish. "Maybe I can set off that spark in your heart that makes all the guys fall for me."

He returned her smirk. "Maybe you just might, darling. Maybe you just might." He looked away at the sky. 'I hope.'

* * *

Kiba laid on his bed, more asleep than wake, with a DVD documentary about Akatsuki playing on his surround set and huge TV screen. The interviewer was asking Kisame about his influences (Lars Ulrich from Metallica, Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Mikkey Dee of Motörhead being the biggest names), when the camera panned to Hidan soloing on a bass. Kiba perked up. 'Never knew Hidan could solo on bass. I mean, I heard Deidara before, and the guy's a beast, but Hidan? The dude used to have an extreme distaste in anything that wasn't a heavily distorted guitar.'

Kiba picked up his bass and tried improvising a bit, and to his surprise it worked out. Suddenly, an idea hit him. The 'Stricken' solo, probably one of the most known solos throughout the world (Itachi, you're a freaking _genius_), would sound pretty neat on bass too. And so he started working on it.

Besides, it gave him a good chance to show off for Ino tonight.

He never told the guys he met Ino a few days ago in the park, he just told them he finished his song so they could go on to their parts. They didn't know about their date tonight either. Then again, did Sasuke tell them when he started going out with Sakura? Did _anyone _tell the others?

...Oh yeah. Naruto.

'Doesn't count,' Kiba thought. 'That was a whole different situation.' He looked at the clock. He was supposed to meet her at six. Seeing how it was five, he had exactly one hour.

"Might as well get ready..."

About half an hour later, Kiba came walking downstairs, wearing casual black jeans and a black tank. He snatched his blood red SPZ hoodie from the couch and put it on, before locating his iPhone on the dining table. The dining table was, come to think of it, the only piece of furniture that didn't look trashed. Whereas the rest of the stuff in the house almost fell apart from improper use (not like they cared; it gave the place a more rock star-ish look), the table still looked neat.

Then again, they hardly use it anyway. So it's not that hard to believe.

He ran back up to grab his bag and his bass before taking the back door to the car park. Izumo was on a holiday, so he had to find his beauty himself. The keys practically screamed at him to take the new one. A smirk crept up his face. Oh yeah, that definetely would make an impression.

He soon located the brand new, never driven before, $ 1,700,000.- Bugatti Veyron. Most expensive, most powerful, and fastest car in the world that can be driven on the road legally. It's wonderful to have money...

Kiba smirked as he revved the engine and sped off, drifting a few corners and skidded to a halt in front of the gate. As soon as it opened (remotely, of course), he hit the gas. The engine roared, the tires screeched and the car sped off at almost double the speed limit.

* * *

Ino anxiously waited for him, not sure how to act. Yep, just like that. She scores a date with the guy she had liked from the dawn of time (Shikamaru? Who's this 'Shikamaru' you speak of?) and she doesn't know what to do or how to act. Sigh.

She got up, deciding to leave it up to fate and see how it'd turn out. She grabbed her guitar bag and located her shoes. She was about to grab them when she heard a car skid to a halt close by. She pondered on getting her heels or her sneakers, and decided on her sneakers since she wasn't really into the whole Sympho fashion anyway. That was Hinata's...thing. A minute later she was outside, gaping at Kiba's _awesome _ride.

"Do you know _how much _that thing _costs!_?" she screeched. Kiba smirked.

"Yea, bought it from our pocket money this month. We're eating instant ramen all month because of it, but it was worth it. I'm the first one of us to drive it around, actually."

She hopped in the passenger seat, squealing over every last detail of the car. Kiba blasted the legendary Slayer album 'Reign In Blood' through the pimped out sound system, with Ino air guitaring and the both of them singing along all the way. They were getting looks alright; if it wasn't for the Bugatti, it was for the sight of a teenage boy headbanging behind the steering wheel like crazy and a teenage girl half-standing in said car air guitaring like crazy. That is, until Kiba opened the sun roof. Ino popped up and air guitared upright, with Kiba driving almost 80 mph. So it wasn't really surprising they saw red and blue lights flashing and heard sirens screech soon after.

"Here we go again..." Kiba muttered, unaudible over the full-force 'Jesus Saves' pounding through the speakers.

* * *

Kiba rolled his eyes at the police officers ranting on about responsibility and stuff. He cut the guy who was speaking off.

"Alright, I get it already. What's those things add up to?"

"All your violations add up to a total penalty of $ 550, sir. You've got-"

Kiba cut the dude off again by stuffing six hundred-dollar bills in his hands. "Keep the change. I'm in a hurry." He looked to Ino and motioned her to get going again. She was desperately trying to hold her laugh, and considering the utterly stupid look on the officer's face, so did he. He jumped in the driver's seat and revved the engine, while inserting a new disc into the CD player. Ino got in the passenger's seat laughing her ass off, and pressed 'play' while Kiba sped off.

When Ino calmed down after a good ten minutes of hysterical laughter, she turned down the volume to talk to him. "Did you see the look on his _face_? Priceless!"

"Heh, bet that's the first time he heard a guy call fifty bucks 'change'. He looked like a total shiny."

She raised her eyebrow, still smiling. "Shiny?"

"Shiny. Synonyms: Noob, Newbie, Rookie, and so on."

"And why 'shiny'?"

"Picked it up from a video game. The new soldiers were called 'shinies' because of their clean armor."

"...You're a total no-lifer."

He smirked. "Tell me something I don't know, darling. Besides, I heard you're the CoD mistress of the girls."

She smirked mischievously. "You bet'cha, dog boy. Nobody's got shit on me. I kick their asses. If I don't get them with my M4, they're fodder for my Deagle."

"Assault class? Why's that? Oh, nevermind. You just _can't _live without the spotlight, can you Ino." She shot him a fake glare. "I rather stay hidden," he continued. "I make headies as easy as I play bass, with my Golden Dragunov."

"Snipers are so _slow_," she said. "I can't play them for shit. I'm all like 'Where the hell did the guy go to!?' and I move, and somehow they always get me. I'd rather be on the breaching team."

"Rusher."

"Shush, I'll nade you."

"You wouldn't want to ruin my car."

"...Damn you."

They listened to Akatsuki's third album 'Consign to Oblivion' (The first album to feature Konan, in fact) in silence the rest of the way to the restaurant they were going. Kiba was smirking, though. He had just found the _perfect_ second date.

* * *

**So Ino and Kiba had their first date, and the first thing Kiba brought up was Call of Duty. It's scary how much his no-life-ness and video game addiction resembles mine. Don't worry if you don't understand what they were talking about. Us gamers are usually hard to follow when it comes to game language. You don't want to hear me talking to a fellow World of Warcraft player. Seriously.**

**Anyways, next up is more KibaIno and getting close to the conclusion of the story! **

**Rock on!**

* * *


	22. Chapter 22: Take Your Best Shot

**A/N Songs:  
****Wheels of Fire - Judas Priest  
****Angel - Judas Priest  
****I Am the Law - Anthrax  
****Dead Memories - Slipknot  
****Ace of Spades - Motörhead  
****Overkill - Mtörhead  
****Eat the Rich - Motörhead**

**Don't own.**

* * *

Kiba laid on his bed, with Judas Priest's 'Wheels of Fire' killing his ear drums. He was thinking. Thinking about a girl. And it wasn't even Hinata, the girl he thought he was hopelessly in love with. The song ended, and he laughed at the irony. The next one was called 'Angel', which made him think about her even more.

Come to think of it, she kinda fit the description of 'angel' with her blonde hair and sky blue eyes. He closed his eyes, smirking as he remembered her words to him they day they met in the park.

_"Maybe I can set off that spark in your heart."_

'You really did just that, darling.'

He grabbed his phone and chose her number on speed dial. She picked up soon after. "Hey, handsome. What's up?"

Kiba smirked at the nickname. "Hey, sweetheart. I was thinking, how about we go kick some major ass at the local LAN that's held tonight at Tenzou's?"

"...That's pretty lame."

"You can win a week's free shopping."

Silence. "What time?"

"I knew you'd be down. Meet me at five, 'kay? We need tactics and stuff."

"Sure. See ya in a while, baby!"

"Bye, darling."

* * *

Kiba and Ino walked outside smirking, his left arm around her shoulders. She was still ranting over the games. "I never thought that would actually _work_!"

He faked an insulted expression. "You don't have faith in me?"

She shot him a weird look. "Come on, Kiba! A _rusher_ backed up by a _sniper_? Ever heard of polar opposites?"

"Hey, opposites attract," he stated matter-of-factly. "The fact we rolled those open maps worked in our favor, though. I don't think it would've worked in Wetworks or Ambush."

"Tell me about it. I mean, talk about luck. Bog, Crossfire _and _Backlot in a row? We must have an angel looking over us!"

"Well, I've got you."

He didn't mean to say that out loud, but it was out before he knew it. She looked at him with a mix of surprise and happiness. He looked away to hide his blush, as she started cooing.

"Aww, you're so sweet!"

"Heh, I try."

The two walked through the city streets in silence, enjoying each other's company and 'I Am the Law' blasting from Kiba's iPhone (Again with the looks...Never heard any heavy metal, people? Sheesh). When they reached the car park after grabbing a milkshake at your local McDonald's, they jumped in Ino's marine blue Aston Martin DB9 Cabrio and sped off.

While driving, Ino thought about how the girls and her had bought this DB9 from their first 'paycheck'. And how they bought themseves a nice Porsche 911 Carrera S from their second, which Tenten drove now. Sakura claimed the Nissan 350Z the second they saw it at the car lot, the same way Temari did with the BMW M5 said girl was tuning and driving. Hinata's dark side was clearly visible in her driving style and car, a pitch black Chevy Corvette Z06. The girl was a maniac in the driver's seat, Ino thought with a shudder. She suddenly wondered how much cars the guys had, so she decided to ask her boy toy.

"Hey, Kiba. How many cars do you guys have altogether?"

Kiba looked up from his thoughts and pondered. "No idea, actually... Let's see... I've got two, a simple Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and a Dodge Viper. Naruto has a _bigass _Hummer H3, a slick BMW X6 and a freaking Monster Truck he can only drive in our back yard. Neji likes speed, so he went for the Ferrari F60 Enzo and Lamborgini Murciélago. The dude also owns a formula one car, one he built himself. He sometimes goes racing in it." Kiba paused to think. "Sasuke's got his Lotus Elise he got from Itachi, a red n' black Mercedes-Benz SLR and an Audi GT3. Shikamaru has only one car, because he's not really into the whole thing. That's the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Then we have our limo, the Veyron, the SPZ Gallardo and the Audi R8. That's a grand total of...sixteen cars in our car park."

Ino fell silent, even though she was prepared for something like this. Still, all those cars Kiba had summed up...well, let's just say an average working man can only dream of owning one. And they've got freakin' _sixteen_ of those rides. The life of a rock star, huh?

"And you _still _managed to pay for your mansion, and everything else?"

"Our first album was released _four years _ago. We were really young then by the way... Anyways. Last year, that album went triple platinum. Our second record is close to getting triple platinum, our third one is over double plat and Dead Memories is growing close to 1,2 million copies sold. We've sold out on every gig we played. Money comes like the fangirls. It's crazy. But yeah, we still got plenty of green left."

Ino shook her head in unbelief and noticed a suspicious car tailing hers. She was about to tell Kiba when lights flashed and sirens screeched. She banged her fist on the wheel. "Damn! Not this again!"

* * *

"...So by taking every violation in consideration, your fee adds up to a total of $ 465 if I don't count the 35 cents. You've got a month to pay for them if you don't want this case to move to the court."

Ino glared at the officer's satisfaction with himself. "How about I pay right here and now, and get the fuck on the road again?"

The officers began to laugh. "And how's an 18-year old punk going to have almost 500 bucks in cash?"

Ino reached in her pocket and pulled out a wad of dollar bills. She counted down 465 dollars and put the rest back. "There. Take your loot and get out of my sight."

The two officers stared at the dollar bills in front of them in silence. "...Alright, missy. You're under arrest."

"What!? Why the fuck's that?"

"A teenager with a car like this and loads of cash money? That screams either 'hooker' or 'dealer'. Now get out of the car. You've got the ri-"

"How does 'rock star' sound, uncle officer?" Kiba asked casually, causing the officers to freeze once again.

"...Rock star?"

"As in 'Delightful's-lead-guitarist-and-currently-dating-Strike-Point-Zero's-bassist' rock star. We're usually loaded." Kiba explained in a fake-friendly tone. "Ino Yamanaka over there? She's kind of my girlfriend. I don't wanna know how your kids would feel when their dads sued one of their favorite guitarists. It could make one of their favorite bassists not feeling like playing any more, causing one of their favorite bands to break up. I don't think they'll be happy with the knowledge their fathers are responsible."

* * *

"Kiba, that was _off the hook_! Brilliant! What the hell, man? _"Don't think they'll be happy with the knowledge their fathers are responsible"_? When did you make that up?"

"Kinda on the spot" Kiba said smirking. "Although I heard the concept before, on a movie."

She laughed out loud, but fell silent a moment later when she remembered the rest of Kiba's conversation with the cop. Her eyes widened.

"By the way, did you call me your girlfriend?"

"Yup. Because let's face it, you're madly in love with me and you're intoxicating me with your magic spark thingy. Might as well call us an official couple then."

"..."

Kiba was just in time to stop her from assaulting his lips with hers and getting the two of them killed in a car accident. "Ino, there will be _plenty _of time to have tongue wrestling matches, but _not right now._ Keep your eyes _on the fucking road._"

"Party-pooper" Ino retorted huffing, but keeping her attention to her driving nonetheless. Kiba sighed in relief and smirked at her glare.

"Don't worry, darling. I'll think of something that'll make you want to do that once more. Not a problem." To stop the pointless 'argument', Kiba inserted a new CD into Ino's sound system and blasted 'Ace of Spades', 'Overkill' and 'Eat the Rich' off of a Motörhead compilation album.

* * *

Both of them broke away panting heavily. They'd been at it for almost half an hour, and it felt even longer to them. She smirked. "Damn, I didn't think you'd be this..."

"This what? This good?" he replied smirking.

"This experienced."

"Same difference, babe."

"Shut up and kiss, dog boy."

"As you wish, your highness..."

Minutes passed again, and they stopped paying attention to their surroundings, which was never a good idea. They jumped nearly three feet when someone banged on the hood of her car. A girl with pink hair and black dress stood beside a black-clad raven-haired guy, both of them smiling. They both carried guitar bags, and from the looks of it he was about to start throwing a fairly small amplifier in the trunk of his car.

"So I guess this is congratulations, Inuzuka?" Sasuke said punching Kiba in the shoulder when the latter got out of the car. Ino and Sakura were hugging each other to death, squealing at a dangerously high volume and pitch doing so. Kiba nodded.

"Yea. I'm a bit late, but I'd wait forever if it was her."

"I thought you had your eyes set on someone else?" Sasuke whispered. Kiba smirked.

"Key word being 'had'. She converted me."

"I see. Well, good luck putting up with her shopping sprees."

"Hey, if you can manage it, it'll be a piece of cake for me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You think so? I know for a fact that Ino's far worse than Sakura when it comes to shopping, and she's already driving me crazy. If we don't look out, these chicks'll bankrupt us."

"Dude, like you care! You'd give her all of your possessions smiling and paying her for it."

"...You're right, I don't give a shit. Nor does Hyuuga or Naruto."

"And Shikamaru?"

"Nara? Does he care about _anything _else than Temari and music?"

"...Good point." Kiba folded his arms behind his head. "Well, let's get the fuck outta here. I feel like jamming some major Slayer."

* * *

**A/N Just one or two more and this thing is over! =O I can't believe it turned out so freaking long. If anyone got ideas for a story I shpould do, please PM me. I'm like, brain dead when it comes to new plots. I haven't got the slightest spark of inspiration. Sigh.**

**Remember to review and all that stuff. Looking forward to any of your creative suggestions. And remember, you can't kill the metal. The metal will live on. **

**Rock on!  
~LazyNinja**


	23. Chapter 23: The End of the Line

**A/N Songs:  
****Halo - SOiL  
****Ready to Fall - Rise Against  
****Misery Business - Paramore  
****Battery - Metallica  
****Punk Rock Princess - Something Corporate  
****Perfect - Flyleaf**

**Don't own.**

* * *

Sasuke hit the last notes, Naruto forced out the last scream, Neji banged out his last drum solo, Kiba picked his last bass loop and Shikamaru threw in a nice thunder crack. After the last chord, Sasuke and Naruto threw their picks into the crowd. Neji did the same with his drum sticks, causing a fangirl rumble in front of the stage. Sasuke watched smirking how heaps of screeching sluts threw themselves in harm's way to get their hands on something as simple as a guitar pick. Fans...

"That was 'Halo', people! We are Strike Point Zero, good night!"

Strike Point Zero left the stage for another band called Psychobrain. It consisted of former Snakefist bassist Suigetsu Hozuki, the one guy Sasuke actually liked out of Snakefist. Then there was the giant drummer Juugo, a former inmate but converted to the religion of music by big names as Judas Priest and Anthrax. Lead guitarist and only girl in the band was Karin, a nerdy-looking but shredding chick taught how to play by Yamato himself. Sasuke noticed she was playing a limited Uchiha Itachi Gibson Flying V with different pickups, giving the instrument a rather unique sound. Last but not least, the vocals were provided by Temari's younger brother Gaara. The kid had taken Shikamaru's advice and backed out of the gangsta scene, but left behind Death Metal too. Now, he was one of the most promising vocalists in today's punkcore.

Sakura walked up to him. "Hey baby. Awesome gig."

Sasuke nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. He kept watching Psychobrain's show. He recalled the same band opening for them way back in the day, with a slightly different line-up. Gaara was added about three months ago, replacing Kankurou. The fact Kankurou and Gaara are brothers kept the band's sound intact. Their voices were almost identical.

Come to think of it, never knew Temari's family was so talented. Kankurou, Temari's other younger brother, was a stuntman and professional skateboarder next to his singing career for formerly Psychobrain and now a punk/metal formation called Evolution. Temari herself was a world famous rock star and Gaara's rise to fame was about to start.

"How did Gaara get into the whole singing thing in the first place?" Sasuke asked no one in particular. Sakura answered nonetheless.

"That's kind of a weird story. The day Gaara got released from hospital, he kicked out everything that was either gangsta or Death Metal. He wanted to start a new life, he said. So that's exactly what he got. I think he inherited some of Temari's love for Punk, cuz he was blasting the legendaries like Blink-182 and The Misfits 24-7. Temari and Kankurou heard him singing along the other day, and were amazed by his talent. Thus, they talked him into auditioning for a few spots. Then Kankurou left Psychobrain, and these guys wanted Gaara as his successor."

After a minute of silence (save for singing along to 'Ready to Fall' by Psychobrain), Sakura concluded with "Life is weird for a rock star."

Sasuke smirked. "Tell me something I don't know, darling." He kissed her forehead. "Get going, you. This is _your _tour after all. Which makes me think of something. You girls are totally using us."

She smiled. "What'cha mean?"

"You know what I mean. You're abusing the fact that we're dating, the fact that Hyuuga is Hinata's cousin and the fact that Gaara and Temari are siblings."

"Are not!"

"Are too and you know it."

"Shut up."

Smirk. "Or else?"

Pout. "Or else I'll cry."

Sigh. "Fine..."

Naruto-style grin. "I know you love me."

Sasuke didn't answer, but kissed her quickly before ushering her to the dressing room, under loud complaints by the pink-haired vocalist. When she started struggling, Sasuke took drastic measures and picked her up.

"Wha-! Sasuke, put me down. _Now._"

"No."

"You are going to put me down _right now_ and let me watch Psychobrain in peace, or there _will be blood_."

"No."

"Sasuke!"

"Yes dear?"

"Put me the fuck down!"

Sasuke stopped and pretended to think "Let's see...No."

"Why the fuck not? I wanna watch Psychobrain! Let me seeeee..."

"You have to get ready, you childish whining dimwit. You look like shit."

"...Did you just call me ugly!?"

"No, I said you look like shit. If you don't come along in peace, I might even consider getting Ino to beautify you."

"That's not even a word!"

"Doesn't change the fact that you can't go onstage like this. I'll put you down if you promise to come along in silence."

Sakura grumpily agreed to Sasuke's 'ultimatum' and sulked beside him the whole way. Though Sasuke promised not to send Ino on her ass. She was about to thank him for that when she noticed he stood a few feet behind her, frozen to the spot and looking at something with an utmost horrified and disgusted look. She walked over to him (so she's curious, sue her).

How she wished she hadn't when she saw what had caused him to go into shock.

Right there in a shady corner, were both of their managers making out like their life depended on it. She nearly puked.

"Aah!! I'm scarred for life!" Her screech caused Kakashi and Anko to break apart and blush furiously, and Sasuke to regain control over his muscles again. She grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him away, while yelling "Get a room, you two!" at the two managers.

* * *

The dressing room was a blur of people and clothes and insrtuments and more people. Ino was getting her make-up done (this meant she was yelling at the make-up artists what stuff to get her and putting it up herself), Temari was polishing her newest bass and Hinata was all over the room frantically searching for the guitar pick necklace Naruto got her. Sakura joined Tenten in picking a stage outfit. Sasuke smirked and walked over to the 'guy corner', where the rest of the guys hung out. Neji handed him a beer.

"So are we still down with going onstage and play 'Misery Business' with them?" Naruto asked his friends. Shikamaru nodded.

"Yup. Though Neji might have a little problem getting to play."

Neji smirked. "Don't worry. I talked Tenten into getting her 'Monster Kit' onstage."

Naruto, being the oblivious idiot everyone knows him for, frowned and asked "What's her monster kit?"

The drummer rolled his eyes. "You really are the most idiotic person I ever met. Tenten's 'Monster Kit' is a double drum kit. As in four bass drums, two snare drums and so on. She once put it together when we went mak- I mean jamming. I only told you that four times today."

"I see," Naruto replied grinning. Trust the blonde vocalist to miss something like Neji's obvious mishap. He spotted a spare drum set and immediately ran over to it to play. Shikamaru and Neji rolled their eyes, while Kiba picked up his bass and joined the blonde.

"These guys...will they ever grow up?" Neji muttered sighing. Shikamaru shrugged.

"It's troublesome, but I don't think so. But it sure keeps life interesting."

"You bet. Remember the time Naruto was the main target of a fangirl stampede? I never knew a Hummer could be handled like that. That's when I discovered I really liked racing, and street racing in particular" Neji said reminiscing. Sasuke chuckled and Shikamaru smirked.

"Yeah. Or that time Kiba and you got stuck in the limo for three days because he just _had _to yell 'Ladies and gentlemen, Strike Point Zero is _here_!' when there's like five thousand fangirls around. That's when Kotetsu resigned as our driver. I think I never saw either of you so horrified."

"Or drunk" Sasuke added, ignoring Neji's glare. "It was like melting hot, the airco was dead and the only drinkable stuff in there was either vodka or beer. Your hangover lasted like three days or something. And you're a guy that can hold his booze."

"Now that we're talking about that, Uchiha...Remember Hard Rock Café the time before we met the girls?"

Sasuke's face paled and the other two laughed. "...I don't even _want _to remember that. I knew fangirls were evil, but..." He didn't finish his sentence, but shivered instead. Neji smirked.

"How much clothes did you have left when you finally got the fuck outta there?"

"Not enough to go outside, I think that's enough said" Sasuke grumbled. "The only things that could have been considered wearable were my boxer shorts and shoes."

Neji and Shikamaru laughed harder, while Sasuke sulked and muttered something about his favorite Maiden shirt.

"Well, you guys got nothing on me. I never got myself into trouble" Shikamaru said with a confident smirk. And no matter how hard the two thought, they had to admit he was right.

That is, until Naruto returned saying "That was almost as fun as when Shikamaru when he got shocked by his keypad."

This caused laughter amongst the guys, and a glare from Shikamaru. "You thought that was _funny_? I could've _died_, you know!"

"Yeah, It was scary at first. But you didn't die, and acted like a hyperactive infant all day after that. So it was funnier than it was scary."

Shikamaru muttered 'troublesome' and the rest laughed at Naruto's yelling 'Shika wants _candy_!' in a baby voice.

A moment later, everyone seemed to realize how much their lives had changed by something as simple as showing up for soundcheck early. Had they not, they wouldn't have met the girls until the Akatsuki show, and they would probably not have said a word to them. Kiba smirked.

"So silent, you guys. Let's not talk about the past, okay? Let's face it, life sucked before the jamming session with Delightful."

"Yeah" Sasuke said absent-mindedly, remembering how hard it seemed to get over his mother's death. "She definetely has a good influence on me. I mean, I looked at life like it was worthless after the accident. And look at me now. I barely even think about it anymore."

"Agreed. Tenten actually managed to get the stick out of Neji's ass and make jokes" Naruto cut in. Said drummer glared at him.

"Now it's just up to my cousin to get you rid of your idiocy. It would do us all _really _good."

"Hey, I'm working on it!" Naruto replied. "I stopped pranking and handle my stuff with a lot more care now."

"About damn time. I was growing sick of buying you new Xboxes every two months."

"The last one was Kiba's fault! He kicked it after he failed 'Battery' for the forty-second time in a row!"

"Guys, stop it. Shikamaru's giving you 'the look' again."

"I was not, idiot" Shikamaru countered. "Temari hates it when I look at people like that. I also lowered the use of 'troublesome' in my daily vocabulary because of her. But you _do _still annoy me so just shut the fuck up."

"And how did your 'Punk Rock Princess' save you from the Dark Side?" Naruto asked Kiba quoting from the song Psychobrain was playing.

"Dude, I'm turning _her _to the Dark Side."

"Dream on, dog boy."

Kiba sighed. "Fine. She saved me from total Call of Duty addiction, she got me into real sports instead of FIFA and NFL games and I stopped smoking weed."

"You smoked weed?"

"Parties do weird things to people, dude."

They fell silent once more, thinking about the girls. _Their_ girls. Their 'girlfriends-they-thought-didn't-exist'. Said girls were taking the stage right that moment, starting their concert with 'Perfect' off their first record. Oh the irony.

"Life is weird for a rock star, huh" Sasuke said, breaking the silence.

"It sure is, dude. It sure is."

**

* * *

**

Aaaand we're DONE! Seriously, I've had a blast writing this thing. Combining the two things that make life less shitty (Music and Naruto) sure is fun. Even though I've only been a full-fledged metalhead for less than two years, I think I came with a fairly wide variety of songs and artists.

**Honestly, I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do now. I've been working on a songfic, but I'm starting to hate it, I've made plans for a Shuffle Challenge, but I haven't found the motivation to get on with it, and ****no tears left to cry**** sent me a rather good idea, but I'm still working on the plot details. So yeah. I might be a bit absent for the time being.**

**Anyways, thanks for putting up with me and remember: You can't Kill the Metal! \m/**

**Rock on!!  
****~LazyNinja**


	24. Author's Note

**Important note**

I've made a fresh start after two years of absence. I am sick of my old name and my old inbox flooding with emails I never read, so I started from scratch with a new name. For anyone looking for new work, go to my new account at www(dot) fanfiction (dot) net/u/3060201/VictimofYourOwnCreation.

**LazyNinja**


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